Habakkuk Part 3 - Prayer To The God We Can Trust

Gavin Wright concludes the preaching series on the book of Habakkuk. This sermon is from Sunday 12th July 2026.

Transcript

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This is Habakkuk's prayer Habakkuk chapter three, a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet according to Shigeonoth. O Lords, I have heard the report of you and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it, in the midst of the years make it known in wrath, remember mercy. God came from Timan and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His splendour covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. His brightness was like the light, rays flashed from his hand, and there he veiled his power. Before him went pestilence, and plague followed at his heels. He stood and measured the earth, he looked and shook the nations. Then the eternal mountains were scattered, the everlasting hills sank low. His were the everlasting ways. I saw the tents of Kushan in affliction. The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord? Was your anger against the rivers, or your indignation against the sea when you rode on your horses on your chariot of salvation? You stripped the sheath from your bow, calling for many arrows, you split the earth with rivers, the mountains saw you and writhed, the raging waters swept on, the deep gave forth its voice, it lifted its hands on high, the sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they sped at the flash of your glittering spear. You marched through the earth in fury, you threshed the nations in anger. You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors, who came like a whirlwind to scatter me, rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret, you trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters. I hear, and my body trembles, my lips quiver at the sound, a rottenness enters into my bones, my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will wait quietly for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines. The produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food. The flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the deers, he makes me tread on my high places. To the choir master with stringed instruments. What happened in the past matters. Looking back allows you to look to the future, allows you to plan for the future. So just as an example, within our church family, and she's not here this morning, but if you look back at Frankie Orr's work in the past, you can understand that you will never be allowed to go hungry. You can turn up to any meeting with Frankie and be confident that she will feed you because you know what she's like, what she's always been like. Man, it was good when she was in my fellowship group. Looking back at a person's actions in the past helps you know where you stand today and helps you plan for the future. And if that person has proved trustworthy, as you look back then, you can trust them. That's what is going on in our passage today. Ahabakuk looks back, and in doing so, he can understand that he can trust God today and for tomorrow, even though there is darkness and sadness and trouble in the air. We're going to break this morning up into three bits, and this is the first bit, if you're a note taker. This is looking back to God in brokenness. Looking back to God in brokenness. Let's just start at the beginning there, verse one. It is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. So Habakkuk has actually been talking to God a lot so far, hasn't he? In this book? But there is something different, something distinct now about the way that he talks to God. It is formerly called a prayer, and it is a prayer with a tune, Shikionoth, one of my favorites. Habakkuk is singing. His desperate, frustrated crying out of chapter one, his questioning, his complaining anguish. The heart that lies behind it isn't necessarily done. But those sorts of prayers are done, at least for the time being. And now he moves on to sing to the gods who has heard him and has answered him. And what kind of song is it? Well, we're just gonna get a taste for how Habakkuk feels as he is singing this song. We get bookends really, verse 2 and verse 16. Verse 2, what does he say there? I've heard of the report of you, in your work, O Lord, do I fear. He fears God. This is in part a song of fear, which sounds strange. He heard the report of God, he's heard of his work, and it causes him to fear. But this isn't fear, friends, because God is unpredictable or unjust, nor fear because God is an enemy. It is a right kind of fear. It is an understanding of how deep the power of God is. We've seen in chapters one and two how how God is controlling the mightiest army on earth and how he will also bring them down. And so Habakkuk's song here is a song of reverent fear of that god. It's the kind of fear that we might feel if we rightfully thought about the sea, to understand its depth, to understand its size, its power. You'd be a fool to take the sea lightly, like the mariners of old who sang reverently of the ocean. We would be fools to take God lightly. It is a song in that way of reverent fear. But then if you look down towards the end, verse 16 too, look at the words that describe Habakkuk in those verses. It is a song of trembling, of quivering, of rottenness in the bones. In other words, what sort of song is this? This isn't Chris Tomlin standing at the front of the stage, bouncing up and down with his hand in the air, saying, Come on, guys. This is a song of a broken man. It is a song of a broken prophet. It is a song for broken people to sing. And I know that there are broken people in our church family this morning. Because of families that are falling apart, perhaps, because of bodies that are failing us, because of the shadow of death, because of the sin in ourselves that we battle against, because of the sins of others that cause us to suffer. Perhaps, like Habakkuk, you grieve this morning over injustice, and you struggle to see how God can possibly be keeping his promises in your circumstances. Friends, this is a song for you. And perhaps as Habakkuk sings this morning, you might be able to join in. And weirdly, whilst this is the song of a broken man, it is also a song of praise, of rejoicing. The conclusion of the song down in verses 18 and 19, sing of rejoicing and joy and salvation. There is joy within the brokenness. There is a vision that Habakkuk has of God here that can see through the tears. As blurry as those tears may make the world seem, even in the gloom, God is still God. His people are still his people, and because those things are true, his promises will not fail, and he will save his own. And Habakkuk praises God then as he trembles. But why this kind of song now? Why does Habakkuk turn from complaints to rejoicing? After all, his circumstances haven't changed. God's people are still sinning, the nations of the earth are still ignorant of God, the wicked still seem to be able to do whatever they wanted and get away with it. So what has changed? And we start to find the answer in verse two. Let me read that again. O Lord, I've heard the report of you and your work, O Lord, do I fear? In the midst of the years revive it, in the midst of the years make it known. In wrath, remember mercy. And what's going on in that verse, I guess, is that Habakkuk is working to look back to the past, to this report of God's. How do I know, God, that I will be okay? How do I know you will keep your words? How do I know that you will deal with evil? How do I know that you will save me? And the answer is because that is what God has always done. So let's look back at with Habakkuk. That seeing what God has always been like might help us press into the future. And this is our second point today. Looking back at the God who judges and saves. Looking back at the God who judges and saves. So verses three to verse 15-ish, the bulk of this song, they are kind of strange actually. I don't know if you were able to follow what was going on as I was reading. It's quite hard to do so. And that's because this isn't describing a particular event in history. But what is in those verses is sort of a collage of God's work in the history of his people that shows who he is and what he does. It's like the old Star Wars posters. Or if you're sort of more modern, like the um like the Marvel, like the Avengers films posters, right? It's not a single image that excites you about the film, but it is this collection of characters and scenes that are all put together onto this one page that are there to excite you and make you say, Whoa, I want to see this thing. And that is what is going on in these verses. There's a collage of God's work throughout Israel's history that is there to teach us about Him and bring us to praise Him. And we won't be able to pull apart every detail this morning. We would be here all day. But let's zoom in on just a few nuggets. Verse 3, look there. Speaks of the coming of God. God came. And so we're already talking about an intervening, working God who steps into the lives of his people. Here he came from Timan and from Mount Para. And you probably don't know where those places are off the top of your head. But those are places on the journey to the promised lands that the Bible speaks of. So we're in Exodus territory here as God came to rescue his people. And what is he like when he comes, verse 3? He comes in glory. See, that speaks of his splendor, his praise. Think of those times in that story when God came in glory. Think of the fire and the clouds. Think of Mount Sinai. And God gave the Ten Commandments. Those are tastes of what we saw last week, that one day the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God. Verse 4 speaks of his brightness, similarly, rays flashed from his hand. By the way, when we talk about rays flashing from your hand, we're not talking about sort of superhero laser hands. That rays word is actually horns. Sort of sounds funny. Horns come from your hand, but it's a picture in the Bible, horns over and over again that is used to talk about power. Power comes from him. Brilliance. That power. And that is a terrible thing to experience if you are God's enemy. In the following verses, we see that he uses that power rightly to judge evil as well as to give life to the righteous. That is why he is worthy of so much praise. And simply put, if God is on your side, that glory and power works for you. But God's powerful and glorious character, his holy character, verse 3, also means that if you are not on God's side, you have every reason to be terrified. Verses 5, 6, 7. Help us glimpse what it is like to encounter God's character as his enemy. Look at the words used to describe what it feels like. There is shaking, there is scattering, there is affliction, there is trembling. We're looking at a picture of what verse 2 calls God's wrath, his anger at evil. And within that, sort of verse 5, I think, takes us back to the plagues of Exodus. Verse 7 speaks of Cushan and Midian. So I think they were in the world of judges. I don't know how well you know that book. For instance, Judges 7, so the Midianites are oppressing God's people, and God humiliates them and destroys them, using only the 300 men of Gideon's army. God is a glorious God, but it is terrifying if you stand against him. Lots of water in this passage. Verse 9 talks of God splitting the earth with rivers. Verse 10, with the raging waters sweeping on, verse 15, trampling the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty water. It is painting there a picture of everything from the floods in God's judgment of a sinful world to the great waters of the Red Sea crashing down on the Egyptian army as they pursued God's people. Verse 11. Takes us back to Joshua, if you remember last year, doesn't it? We saw when God made the night last for longer so that his people could win the victory over their enemies. The sun and the moon stood still in their place. He sings, You marched through the earth in fury, you threshed the nations in anger, you went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. Two things going on. God judges evil and he saves his people. Habakkuk got to look back at so much, didn't he? But friends, don't we have so much more to look back on? Because when we get to look back, we get to look back at Jesus. Cast your minds briefly, you don't have to turn there, but cast your minds briefly to John's Gospel. John chapter 12, and throughout that gospel, Jesus refers to the cross as the hour of his. Anyone know? Let me tell you. The hour of his glory. We've been reading here of God's glory, of his splendor, of his brilliance. And Jesus paints this moment in history as being the moment when his splendor will shine most brightly. It feels strange to us that his hour of glory wasn't when he controlled the weather, or when he cast out demons, or when he healed the sick, or when he raised his friend back to life from the dead, although all of those things are fantastic and wonderful, but his moment of glory was when he suffered the affliction, to use the language of this passage. The wrath, the fury, the piercing of the cross. It doesn't sound glorious, but when you see what the cross has achieved, you start to understand, don't you? The cross is where the perfect Jesus died. The cross is where he himself took on him the evil, the injustice, the wicked deeds and thoughts and words of all of those who trust in him. The cross is where Jesus took the punishment for that evil. It is where he suffered this wrath of God that was due to his enemies. So that people like me, people who deserve it, might never need to face it. Verse 12 and 13, God acted in anger, righteous, full throttle anger at evil, and at the same time went out for the salvation of his people. That is what Jesus did for you. Back in verse 2, the plea of Habakkuk's song to God was that he would revive his work, that it would play out again, that he would work as he has always worked. And what is that work at the end of verse 2 in wrath? He would remember mercy. Habakkuk needs the wrath of God. Sounds strange? He needs the wrath of God because he needs evil to be dealt with. But he knows he can pray that and pray for mercy. It has always been good for God's people when God judges evil. It is how he has saved them, it is how he has disciplined them, time and time again. It is a good thing when God judges evil. God must right the wrongs going on within Israel that we read about in chapter one. And God must judge the wickedness of the Babylonians that we read about in chapter two. But God will always show mercy to those who seek it. And it is for those people he acts when he judges evil. Have you sought the mercy of God, friends? Because it is there to be given, or there is time. These two things always go together. Verses 12 and 13. God marches through the earth in fury as he goes out for the salvation of his people. And on the cross he poured out his righteous anger at evil on Jesus as he went out for the salvation of his people. For you and for me. Verse 3, Habakkuk sang of the earth being full of the praise full of praise because of the work of God. And the cross of Jesus, friends, will bring him praise from every tribe and every tongue and every nation. And that praise has started in his church today. You see, like Habakkuk looking back and remembering God's character, even when we're suffering, even when we are facing evil, we look back at the cross and see God's character, his powerful, brilliant, merciful, selfless, love. Loving glory and if he fights for us, no one can fight against us. And that must lead to his praise. He judges evil and he saves his people. And that brings us to our last bit of this morning, number three. That is looking back again at the work of God so you can look forward trusting him. Looking back at the work of God so you can look forward trusting him. I have three boys and I love them. Sometimes they sin. Sometimes they're scared. Sometimes they don't know what to do. And the way I respond to them in those moments really matters. In part it matters just because I love them and they need to be loved and helped. But it also matters because in the future, when they are in trouble, when they mess up, when they're confused, when they're heartbroken, they need to know that they have a daddy who is on their side. They need to know they have a daddy who will work for them, a daddy they can trust, a daddy they can call out to for help. And as Habakkuk's song finishes, he looks back at God's works and he sees a God he knows can be trusted. A God who doesn't change, a God whose promises will stand. Like Habakkuk, we must make sure that we look back at God's works as we press into the future. You can look back at things God has done in your own life, perhaps things he has taught you, circumstances he's given you, ways that he has grown you. You can look around our church and see the work that he's done in the lives of other people. Those things might not have been easy for us, but God did them for good. But friends, certainly you must look back at what Habakkuk looks back at. The Old Testament of the Bible is good. It is a brilliant record of the work of a God who deals with wickedness and who preserves and protects his people. A God has always been like that. And friends, you must look back at the cross when in his wrath God remembered incredible mercy. How does the Christian in a broken home? How does the Christian in a broken body, a broken culture, even a broken church, press on? How do we know that God will keep us? How do we know that he will give us what we need? How do we know that he will take us home? How do we know that he will keep his promises? How do we know that those blurry shapes in the distance, how do we know what those are when we only see through tears? And it is because we look back and know that in wrath he remembers mercy. If I am his, and if he has already poured out his anger and my sin on Jesus, then what do I have left to fear? I am safe in him, I can trust him, I can wait for him. As Habakkuk does in verse 16, you see that? With all that's going on, with all that he said, with the Babylonians pressing in, yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble. Even if we wait in tears, even if we wait on our knees. Glance down at verse 17 and 18. Habakkuk doesn't give us the impression now that he's looked back, now that he trusts God, now that he's prayed the right prayer, that he's going to have an easy life. What does he pray, though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines? The produce of the olive fail, and the field yield no food. The flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no hood in the stalls. What is he going to do? Yet, he says, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will take joy in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk knew the reality of the Babylonian army pressing in. Friends, for him there was a true and reasonable threat of siege and starvation. We read Lamentations a few years ago. It is terrible. Trusting God was not going to be easy. The thought of what is to happen makes him tremble. It makes his heart pound. He is terrified. Things are going to get nasty. Disaster was about to come upon him in massive ways. And yet, Habakkuk would rejoice in the Lord. He would take joy in the God of his salvation. Habakkuk could never have found this comfort for within himself. But he looked to God. He looked back. He looked to God even at the height of his uncertainty and distress. He looked to the God who does not change, the one who, even in justice, his justice, remembers mercy. And what about us? Friends, this is a song that is worth learning when the times are good. It is a song that is worth learning when the sun is shining, so that you know it in the darkness. It is a song worth learning when everything is right, so that when things start to go wrong, you don't grapple around in the dark trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Friends, have the puzzle together ready. Have the song ready in your hearts. There is a day coming when Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. What confidence do we have that on that day we will live? Where is our hope? For the Christian, even when our faith is at its weakness, what do we do? We look to God. We look back at the God who will rid the world of evil and at the same time in Jesus make a way to show us unfathomable mercy. Who, as he is ridding the world of evil, was making a way for us to live, to rest in him, and to live in a world one day where evil is no more because of what he has done. I don't know how dark your skies are this morning. I don't know how broken your world is. But in those times, friends, how will you survive? How will you press on? How will you trust God? Look back, please, and see that he is always being trustworthy, always dealing with sin, always saving his people. When the world around you crumbles, Habakkuk prays, God the Lord is our strength. He always has been. He is. If we are in Jesus, he always will be. So let me pray for us. Father God, we are so weak. We find it so hard to remember what is true. And so we find it so hard to trust you when things are tough. Lord, please teach us again of your consistency, of how you have always battled against sin, the battle that Jesus won decisively. And you have always shown mercy, a mercy that Jesus achieved decisively as he died on the cross. Father, I ask that you would help us to be ready to sing this song of trust. When the skies are dark, I ask that you would help us to know you. And even though we are suffering, to know still that we will rejoice because you are our strength and you do not let your people down. Amen.