Please open your Bibles to the book of Habakkuk 3, verses 17 to 19. Habakkuk 3, verses 17 to 19. And as you go there, I want to remind you what we spoke about last time at the beginning of the message, when I asked the question, where are all these minor prophets concentrated? At what time in history? And I noted at that time that most of these minor prophets and the major prophets are all around the time of the fall of Judah and Israel. And so we have another prophet here today, Habakkuk, who is prophesying right before the fall of Judah to the Babylonians. So as we read this, we're gonna discover another question at this crisis time, another answer from God at this time to help us in our days and our understanding of what it means to live with the stresses and the pressures that come as we walk the Christian walk. Habakkuk 3, these famous words in 17 to 19, we read. Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit beyond the vines, 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 strength, instruments, let us go to our God in prayer and ask a blessing for this message. Dear Heavenly Father, we pray that you would help us to ponder the words of the prophet Habakkuk. that we would understand this difficult, difficult question that we are about to ponder. Help us, Lord, and feed our souls that we would be nourished by heavenly food and strengthened by the Spirit of God himself. For we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Brothers and sisters, what do you do when God delays his deliverance? How do you respond to disaster without relief? How do you cope with delayed answers to prayer that you earnestly pray? This is what Habakkuk wrestled with. He and others had prayed for relief for the Babylonians were conquering the world. They had conquered the Assyrians and they were on their way to Jerusalem on the brink of attacking them. But God did not seem to stop them. They cried for help, but God did not seem to send relief. Justice was perverted, but God seemed to remain quiet. Habakkuk lived in Judah at the time where the Babylonians came to sack Jerusalem. He saw the Babylonians coming nearer with their armies and he hoped that God would save them, but he didn't. And as a result, Habakkuk faced a crisis of faith. What kind of a God does not step in when he can and give us relief. And so he brings his complaints or questions to God. And this evening we're going to look at this faith crisis. And as you will see, the first time they ask the question, God's gonna answer and you're gonna be surprised about the answer of God. And you're gonna maybe even be surprised about the end of this letter. But let's begin and read and ponder. We'll begin with Habakkuk's complaint. Listen to Habakkuk's crisis of faith in chapter one, verses two to four. O Lord, or O Yahweh, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you, violence, and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity? And why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, so justice goes forth perverted. Habakkuk is shocked that God allows the Babylonians to attack. and destroy nations more righteous than them. He's filled with why questions, like we can be filled with why questions. Why will God not hear? Why is God taking so long? Why does God allow evil to prosper into the world? Why does he allow the wicked to surround the righteous and oppress the righteous and swallow up the righteous? And then God answered. Verses five to six of chapter one. Look among the nations and see, wonder and be astounded, for I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that's the Babylonians, that bitter and hasty nation who march through the breath of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. There's a shocking answer. God tells Habakkuk, I am working, I am sending the Babylonians to judge the world. I am allowing, or at least I'm behind them, or at least allowing them to conquer the nations. And he even confesses, God confesses that they are a bitter and hasty nation. They're evil people. What? I mean, that's not the answer you'd expect. Right? Habakkuk is asking God, well, God, why are you not doing anything? And God responds, I am doing something. I'm sending Babylonians. Habakkuk is shocked and surprised that God is sending them to judge the nations. And so he responds to God in chapter 1, 12 to 13. Are you not from everlasting? Oh Lord, my God, my holy one, we shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O rock, have established them for reproof. He recognizes what God is doing. He's using the Babylonians to judge the nations. But then he wonders again. He questions God again in verse 13. You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he." How can you allow this, God? Why can you let these people that are more wicked than the nations that they swallow up and judge, you who are a God who is righteous, who are pure, who are holy, how can you allow those people and even say, I am sending them to destroy and judge nations that are more righteous than them. And of course, first and foremost, he's thinking of Israel. Habakkuk was confused. God is holy and he has the right to judge the world. Yes. But how could he use the wicked Babylonians to judge the world? Why did he allow these wicked people to prosper in their murderous plans? He even says this in verse 17, is he, probably referring to the king of the Babylonians, then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever? Why would God support the Babylonians, these evil and murderous people, to thrive in their violence? How long would God allow them to destroy the nations? Would he allow them to destroy the nations forever? Why would God allow the Babylonians? to destroy nations that are better than Babylon. This is Habakkuk's dilemma, his complaint, his confusion. Beloved, the book of Habakkuk was written for your edification, for my edification, for us to learn of the ways of God, even when they seem dark and hard to penetrate? Why would God allow the wicked to thrive in our day? Why would he allow wicked people to inflict judgment on others? Why would he allow in the Middle East terrorists to overtake and destroy nations? Why? Why would he allow terrorists that are more wicked than the people who have rejected God in the Middle East? And we could go on many different examples, but let's stay to the Middle East. Why would he allow them to inflict such pain and hardship on the people in the Middle East? Because we believe in a sovereign God. who's not looking at the world and says, oh no, what's going on? He's sovereignly in control over everything. Why would God allow the wicked to oppress those who are more righteous than them? Why would God allow many years in the past the Muslims to destroy half of Europe as they came in, almost conquering all of Europe? Why? How can God allow evil men to oppress people less evil than them and not judge the wicked? Why does God not judge the worst first? Why does he use sometimes the wicked to judge? That's the dilemma that we face. That's the question we need to answer. and the question that Habakkuk is asking. You see now why there's so many prophets written around this time? These are difficult questions. Which brings us to chapter two. Habakkuk 2, verse one, we read Habakkuk saying this, I will take my stand at my watch post and station myself on the tower and look out to see what he will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint. Habakkuk stands before God and I wonder if we do this. If we have a question we cannot answer, we go out to God and we come with faith and we say, I know God that you have an answer. And I'm going to stand here until I receive that answer from you and receive understanding. Not just run away and say, it's all terrible, I don't understand, but say, God, I'm gonna position myself in front of you. I'm gonna stand in my watchtower and watch you. Because I know you have the answer. And I know that you do not cast out your children who come and seek answers from their father. He knows that God will answer. And here is Yahweh's answer. And just to get this clear, this is a difficult passage, so I'll ask if we could put this on the screen so we can read it together. Or back at chapter two, verses two and three, this is the Lord's answer to the question. And the Lord answered me, write the vision, make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits at the point of time, it hastens to the end, it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. This is a challenging passage and it takes some careful reading to understand it. It's clear, first of all, that Habakkuk is shocked that God was using the Babylonians to judge the nations, for the Babylonians themselves were sinful in their own actions. And so, in his heart, Habakkuk knows that God will judge them. He's expecting it. He knows it will, that God will. And so he decides to stand there, and this passage is helping Habakkuk to make sense of it all. God explains there are two stages to his plan. First, Chapter one, God will use the Babylonians to judge the nations, including Israel. Two, God declares that he will judge the Babylonians, but this second stage will not happen immediately. That's why he writes, write it on a tablet. This is not something that's going to happen now. Write it down. So later on, you'll see that I am the God who answers and who fulfills all that I say. Write it down. It is not going to happen yet. God tells Habakkuk that his suffering will continue for now, for he lives in a nation that had sinned against God. And God will use the wicked Babylonians to bring full judgment upon Israel and the other nations around them for all their sin. And what he is telling Habakkuk is that the Babylonians will continue their destruction until God activates the second stage of his plan and judge Babylon. God is not making any excuses. In fact, what he is saying, you want me to judge the Babylonians, but I will first judge the other nations and then judge the Babylonians. He is not saying, I'm only going to judge the most wicked nation. He's saying, no, I'm going to judge all who reserve judgment, who deserve judgment. But wait for it. The Babylonians will be judged. And then God adds this in verse 4 to encourage Habakkuk. Because you have to think about it this way. Habakkuk is a righteous man in a wicked nation. He's a righteous man in a wicked nation who is experiencing the judgment of the wickedness of his nation. That's where it connects to us. If we're followers of the Lord Jesus Christ seeking to live in his holy will, This may very well come to us. It might already be coming to us, especially if you read Romans 1. The judgment of God is already, the wrath of God burns against the nation when wickedness spreads. Judgment may come to our doorstep. And so what God is saying is this. There's three things, Habakkuk, that you need to know to answer your question and to have the answer. First of all, the people among whom you live deserve judgment. And I'm using the Babylonians to judge Israel and to judge the nations around them. Second thing you need to know, the Babylonians deserve judgment. They will receive their judgment. Write it down. It will happen. But now to you, Habakkuk, because I know what your question is about, Habakkuk. It's about your life and those others who are righteous in the midst of this judgment. Why do you suffer with the wicked? Why do you suffer as a person in a nation who's being judged, even though it's not your fault? So God tells Habakkuk these things. First in three, he tells Habakkuk, if it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come, it will not delay. Babylon will be judged, wait for it. Habakkuk, be patient. The justice that you see that needs to happen will happen. Babylon will be judged. All things will be made right by the judge of all the earth. My words will come to pass, but you must hold on to your faith. And so he tells Habakkuk in chapter two, verse four, his soul is puffed up. It is not right with them and about the Babylonians and those who judge the powerful of the earth that oppress. Others, less wicked than them, they're proud and they're filled, they're crushing down, they're pressing down and they're pushing down and they're puffed up and they think, we're so mighty, we can do whatever we want, we're on top of the world. We will never die. But the righteous shall live by faith. Now there's a lot that is not written here that you need to understand. This is a comparison between the wicked and the righteous. If you know your Proverbs, it's always the righteous and the wicked, they're opposites. And actually both these sentences are half sentences in verse four. Let me give you the full explanation, if you understand the poetic effect here. Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him, but on the other hand, your soul is humble, and it is righteous within your heart. That's the complete thought of the first half. Then comes the opposite, the righteous, but the righteous shall live by faith, which implies what? That the unrighteous will die in his unfaithfulness. You see that? This is poetry. At least, I mean, it's not poetry in the sense that it's somebody dreaming it up, but it's written in poetic writing. There's thoughts that you need to fill in, that you need to understand these two categories. In other words, what God is telling Habakkuk is this. He is proud now, and you're humble now. But you, Habakkuk, will live forever by your faith. You will survive. Even though you're oppressed now, and you're pressed down now, and you're crushed down now, you will live. And the one who's puffed up now, who's proud now, will die. That's the answer. That's our answer. I mean, you know this passage. The righteous shall live by faith. That should not be a surprising text, but here in the context, you see how it's brought to Habakkuk and then to us today. This is the message to believers throughout scripture. God's plan will be fulfilled. And if we look in our world today, we wonder, why do we have to suffer for the sins of others? If Christ already died for us, Why do we have to go through this meat grinder of times and see our society fall apart, our world fall apart? Why do we see the wicked rise and the humble being crushed down? There's a good chance that we'll see much more of that. This is the message of God. I'm judging the world. I'm judging the nations for their sin. But those who now elevate and exalt themselves, they will die. But you, righteous among the nations who believe in God, who follow after Him, hold fast to your faith, no matter what. For in the end, God will judge all, and save his people. That's the message. You must live by faith. So Habakkuk responds to this in the third chapter. He writes this awesome and powerful prayer of the glory of God. We read in verses three and four of chapter three, God came from Teman and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His splendor covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. His brightness was like the light. Rays flashed from his hands, and there he veiled his power. Having understood that God's ultimate time of salvation may take time, he rests in God. No matter how difficult things may become. Habakkuk 3, 16. I hear, and my body trembles. Why is it trembling? Why is Habakkuk trembling there? My lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones. My legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. He's scared. He's scared, not for God here. He's scared for the things that are coming to him. He's scared for what the Babylonians will do to them. And let me tell you, it's terrifying. If you see a mighty host of armies coming to storm your wall, breaking down your wall, killing all your soldiers, bloodshed everywhere, That's terrifying. And Habakkuk says, it's like rottenness in my bones. When I look out and I see the deterioration of the nation that I am part of, when I see the collapse and the destruction of my world, it terrifies me. My lips shake. My body trembles. I'm afraid. Yet I will quietly wait for the Lord, for I know that in the end my God will judge and make all things right. Not Habakkuk, but God will judge. And so he comes to a conclusion. In verses 17 to 19, our text. Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit beyond 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 hurt 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 deers, he makes me tread on my high places. Now that Habakkuk shows that God's promises will be fulfilled, he's willing to wait and bear it. No matter how hard, he will rejoice in God. Even if God withdraws every earthly blessing, if the harvest will fail completely, Even when he will lose everything he has, even when there will be no more comforts, he will rejoice in the Lord. He will take joy, for he belongs to God and God belongs to him. And in the end, all things will be right." True faith gives patience to suffer. Biblical faith brings patience in suffering. I'd really like to see some of the prosperity gospel preachers of our day to take the book of Habakkuk and expound it word for word. Habakkuk is not promised his best life now. He's not promised peace and prosperity, green fields and full barns, and Habakkuk doesn't need it. for his love for God and his joy in God. For whether the barn is full or empty, he is content to wait for God. He's content in God. He's no longer complaining to God or questioning God's wisdom. God told him to wait, and he will wait. God told him, have faith and you will live. So Habakkuk has faith and he will live. This is spiritual maturity. This is spiritual manhood and womanhood. If you live like this, you have graduated from being a boy or a girl in Christ to being a man or a woman in Christ. And Habakkuk gives you a growth spurt when you ponder these words. Look at this man, standing at the point of losing everything. We don't even know this. We have no notion what Habakkuk is really facing. You're not afraid because some army with swords and spears is about to come and invade Grand Rapids. and sack it and carry you off into some foreign land where you work as a slave for the rest of your life. You are not stuck in city walls where you see parents beginning to eat their children to survive. You're not living in a city where you see disease spreading and families cut in half because half of them are dying. Habakkuk sees it all. And as his lips are quivering, his heart trembling, his bones feel the rottenness of the earthly pain he suffers. He says, yet I will rejoice in God and I will wait for my Lord's deliverance. So let's apply, shall we? The book of Habakkuk is our book, your book, to strengthen our faith. It's a book that helps us mature. It's a book that helps us with some of the most difficult questions in life. It teaches us a way of living contrary to our fleshly desires, to live by faith and not by sight. to live by Christ and not by earthly comforts. For it teaches us to be patient and rejoice through the suffering we experience. Now, we may not be sacked by another nation coming to destroy our city, but we will suffer. We do suffer. We are suffering. but do we rejoice in God through our suffering? For some of us, we need to use Habakkuk like a shoulder we can lean on to inspire us, to remind us of the great promises of God, that our focus is not on the here and now, the focus is on the then and there. Write it down, brothers and sisters. When you're going through grief, through pain, when you are mistreated, when you suffer pain and all kinds of hardship, write it down. But in the end, God will stand and plead my case. In the end, God will vindicate His name through me. In the end, God will bring me home, and I will rejoice. Write it down, for it will not fail." This is our application we learned from our older brother Habakkuk. We too must make this resolution. Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit beyond the vines. The produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food. The flock be cut off from the fold, 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 high places. Perhaps we can modernize it and apply it to our lives. though our economy crashes. We lose our home or our health, though our freedoms are taken away and they persecute us for simply reading and trusting the Bible. Yet we will rejoice in the Lord. We will take joy in the God of our salvation. God the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the deers, He makes me tread on my high places." Brothers and sisters, do you believe in the God of Habakkuk? Then you may face trials. Then you may face tribulation. Then you may lose everything. but you cannot lose God if you wait patiently for Him. Wait for Him. You may have to write it down, for it may take time, but wait for Him. He will fulfill all His promises. Amen. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, We come before you in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom every promise is yes and amen. Father, we pray that you would help us whether we suffer or will suffer, that we would live by the words of Habakkuk, that no matter what happens, no matter what fails, no matter what loss we endure, we will rejoice and hope in you. For Father, we pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.