Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: Jonah had to learn about his ministry inside the belly of a fish. Habakkuk learned in the high tower on his knees, seeking the Lord and watching and waiting. Habakkuk's story ends in faith as he says, "I'm going to put my trust in the Lord."

Trusting in God is a choice we have to make. Lord, help us to be more of a Habakkuk who is just seeking the Lord and doesn't always know everything that's going on, but seeks the Lord, watching, waiting, being patient, submitting to the Lord, and then even if we don't know everything, still saying, "But now the Lord is our strength."

Curt: Habakkuk saw evil running rampant and scary situations all around him. So he turned to God for help in understanding what was happening. As we watch and wait for answers with him in today's word, Pastor Brett Meador says we're assured that God has a perfect plan to deal with wicked people and desperate situations, and we can praise him regardless of our current circumstances.

Brett Meador: What was going on in Habakkuk's day? Well, of course, this was Israel being threatened, its very existence, by the Babylonians. The Babylonians were knocking at their door, and Habakkuk is going to wrestle with this question: Why are bad things happening to good people? He finds himself wrestling with why do the wicked prosper? Why are you going to let the Babylonians, who are horribly wicked people, come and prosper against the Jews? He's struggling with that. But when you wrestle with something, when you're wrestling with issues, what should you do? Well, Habakkuk does the right thing.

Chapter one is a wondering and a wrestling. We've already seen that. But chapter two is where he's going to do the right thing. What do you and I do when we get frustrated and we're wrestling with things that are going on in the world today? Well, go from wondering and wrestling to watching and waiting. Watch and see what the Lord's doing. Wait upon the Lord, and that's what we're going to see here in chapter two.

Look at verse one. He says, "I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower, and I will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved." Verse one is loaded with good stuff that he's doing. Notice there's a list of things I'd like you to see.

Number one, I see in verse one a determination. He says, "I will stand upon my watch." It's not like, "I think I'm going to just check it out and sort of investigate." No, "I'm going to stand upon my watch and watch and see what the Lord's going to do." I love that determination. Hopefully when you're struggling with stuff that's going on, don't just halfheartedly seek the Lord, but stand upon the watch and be ready, watching, waiting with determination.

Number two, we see him, not only determination, but isolation. Where does he go? He says, "I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower." The tower was that place where he would be isolated away from everything else, up and away, looking and watching with a determination. Sometimes it's good to get away and seek the Lord, and that's what we see Habakkuk doing. Isolation.

Jesus saw fit to get away, and that makes me marvel. If anybody could have pulled it off without getting away, Jesus was the one. But isn't it amazing that Jesus had to get away and seek the Father? He'd go and pray off by himself in isolation, and we see that with Habakkuk.

So you've got number one determination, number two isolation, number three expectation. He was expectant to see something happen. He says, "I will watch to see what he will say unto me." It wasn't like, "I hope he talks to me." No, "I'm going to watch and wait until he actually says something. I'm not going anywhere." I think sometimes we lack that posture of expectation when we come to church or when we seek the Lord or when we're in prayer.

I think that when we're in prayer, that's one of the greatest times to expect the Lord to give you clarity about what you're supposed to be doing or what you should not be doing. Prayer is one of the great ones. I think Bible study like this, the Lord does that, but I think maybe even more so in prayer when you hear what the Lord is going to tell you to do. Posture of expectation. I hope you have that.

Habakkuk does. He says, "I'm going to stand on my watch, go up to the tower, isolation, but then I'm going to wait until you speak to me." Expectation. And then fourthly, we see patience. He's willing just to wait, and some of us are not so good at that. Are you a patient person? Standing watch at the gate is the idea. A watchman on the wall, that's patience.

So that's what I see here. I see him, the determination, isolation, expectation, patience, but then also open-mindedness to the Lord. Check out the very final phrase there. "I will stand upon my watch, set upon the tower, will watch to see what he will say to me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved." In other words, if I'm off course, the Lord's going to give me a word of correction, and I'm going to receive it. That's the idea. He's willing to be openly corrected by the Lord. I love that. It's a good posture.

So you've got this chapter two, watching and waiting, and that verse one sets the pace for all of that watching and waiting. How does he go on? Verse two, "And the Lord answered me and said, 'Write the vision, and make it plain upon the tables, that he may run that readeth it.'" Do you remember this? We talked about the importance of writing down the vision for you personally as well. That's the context of this verse.

So the Lord says, "Write this vision." Verse three, "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry." In other words, it may seem like a long time. It may seem like it's not happening, but it will come to pass. Verse three is a good word for those of us that are studying the Bible as it relates to Bible prophecy because the Lord has given us very clear distinctives of what's going to happen in the end times.

There are a lot of people saying, "We've heard you guys talking about end times for a long time." But just this verse three is such a key. The vision is yet for an appointed time, and it's going to happen. When the Lord says it's going to happen, it will happen, and that's the truth about the Bible. I love that Habakkuk gets that word from the Lord that it's going to happen.

Well, verse four, "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith." In other words, the Babylonian is prideful. His soul is lifted up. But the just or the justified shall live by faith, and we looked at that. This most famous phrase of the Old Testament, maybe, that changed the course of the entire church through the Reformation of the church and Martin Luther: "The just shall live by faith."

Well, verse five, it says, "Yea, also because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people." We're talking about the Babylonians here, and this is an interesting little bit of prophecy that's given because it's talking about the Babylonians who just pile up nation after nation, which is exactly what they did. The Babylonians pretty much wiped out everybody and they were just piling up nations.

But notice it says here they would because of transgression by wine. Do you remember the night the Babylonians were finally conquered? If you remember Daniel chapter five, you know they were all sloshed. They were all drunk. And it would be the Medo-Persian Empire led by Cyrus and Darius who would come and take over the Babylonian Empire.

They shouldn't have been able to do it. The Babylonians were technically strong enough to fend off the Medo-Persian Empire. But because of their overconfidence and their pride, they got all drunk, and that very night, Daniel said, "This kingdom is going to be taken from you," and it was. So you can check Daniel chapter five. That happened exactly as it says here.

Well, verse six, "Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, 'Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! How long? And to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!'" Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties for them? That's spoil from battle, the booty part there.

Verse eight, "Because thou hast spoiled many nations, and all the remnant of all the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and all that dwell therein." Babylon's going to get what they dished out to others. In other words, you're going to reap what you're sowing, Babylon. That's what Habakkuk's getting here. It's like whatsoever man sows, that will he also reap. Don't be deceived; God is not mocked. So the Bible talks about this over and over again, and basically the Babylonians are going to get what they dish out. That's basically what they're going to get.

Verse nine, "Woe unto him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!" These guys were coveting to have the best houses, the Babylonians, to live in the nicest neighborhoods. And then he goes on about how they got those nice houses in verse ten. "Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer."

In other words, the stones and beams of your houses are going to cry out, "You got that dishonestly. The houses that you so pridefully love, you gained it unfairly," is the idea. Verse twelve, "Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood and stablisheth a city by iniquity! Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

So they're going to weary themselves in trying to be prosperous, the Babylonians. "Woe," verse fifteen, "unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory." Wow, heavy. The Babylonians culturally were sexually perverse and they would drug their neighbor so they could have sex with them.

And then he goes back to the violent theme, verse seventeen. "For the violence (Hamas, Hebrew word) of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein." So again, just calling them out for their violence, and then verse eighteen and nineteen for their idolatry.

"What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it? The molten image and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein to make dumb idols? Woe unto him that saith to the wood, 'Awake!' To the dumb stone, 'Arise! It shall teach.' Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him."

Hoo, that's heavy. All these dumb idols that these guys are calling out to, and then Habakkuk says, "But the Lord, he's in his temple and he's true. All these other idols are false." So we have a watching and a waiting. Number one, chapter one, a wondering and a wrestling. Number two, a watching and a waiting. Chapter three, now we see a worshipping and a witnessing as he finishes it up here.

Worship? Yes. Check out verse one. It says, "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth." What's a Shigionoth? We don't know. It's probably a musical instrument. We also hear about this, by the way, in some of the other Psalms, like Psalm chapter seven, David writes the Psalm on the Shigionoth. Maybe it's an instrument. Others say, "No, it's not an instrument. It's actually more of a tempo, a dynamic of a cadence." It's sort of like when we have an anthem. It's a song of victory and triumph.

So whether it's an instrument or it's a type of song of victory and triumph, we don't know for sure. Maybe it's both. But most scholars argue about that stuff. Now, there's another little secret about Habakkuk that's kind of interesting that some scholars speculate because of chapter three. Do you guys remember who was also a prophet and a priest? Jeremiah moved in both of those roles in some ways.

The priests were the ones more characteristic of singing a song, and this is a song. Habakkuk chapter three is a song of Habakkuk played on an instrument, perhaps. And there's other evidence perhaps why Habakkuk may have been a priest as well. Who knows? But that's just something for you to think about. You can dig more if you want. So this is a song or prayer of Habakkuk on the Shigionoth, this instrument or type of music.

He says in verse two, "O Lord, I have heard thy speech and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy." Boy, you kind of hear Habakkuk saying, "Lord, I know your wrath is coming, but would you please remember mercy too?" Is that a good prayer? Is that a worthy prayer of Habakkuk? What do you think? Why would that be good to pray? Lord is merciful to spare a few. The Lord doesn't destroy the righteous with the wicked, right?

Here's what I'm fishing for: I just want us to see this. I love that Habakkuk's praying something that we can find other verses that say the Lord is full of wrath, but he's also full of mercy. That's a biblical prayer. When I'm struggling with prayer and what to pray, I like to pray scripture. I like to pray things that are biblically sound, and that's what Habakkuk when he's saying, "Lord, I know your wrath is coming, but would you also include your mercy?"

I love it because there's tons of scriptures that say the Lord is full of wrath, but he also his mercy endures forever. That's a legitimate prayer to pray scripture. If you're ever off course or wondering how to pray, "Lord, show me how to pray," because I know my prayers are often misguided. James talks about the person who prays and they don't get what they're asking for because they ask amiss. You're asking for stuff that doesn't line up with God. And I love Habakkuk. He prays something that's really biblical. I wanted you to see that there in verse two.

Now, I'm going to try to read this song. I want you to kind of see the context of this. Basically verses three through fifteen. "God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand." What do horns speak of? Power. Right. "And there was the hiding of his power. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went before his feet. He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.

Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? Was thine anger against the rivers? Was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation? Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah." Which means stop and think. "Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, at the shining of thy glittering spear.

Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah. Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was to devour the poor secretly. Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great wonders."

Verses three through fifteen are interesting, and the song is considered by different people. Some think it's prophetic. Others think it's historic. Some think this is actually speaking prophetically of Jesus coming. And I'll give you like Isaiah 63. Remember how Jesus in the second coming is going to go through Bozrah? Remember the whole Bozrah thing, which is in the land of Edom? That's partially what's being talked about, Teman there in verse three and Paran. And so some people say that's what it's talking about: Jesus' second coming, Armageddon.

Others say, "No, this is historic," and they say it's when the law came down from Mount Sinai, which is also there in the wilderness of Paran where they believe Mount Sinai could be. And they also believe it speaks of the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness. So which one is it? Whenever I see a huge debate among scholars, oftentimes I wonder if both are true. That's an interesting way to approach things. Could it be prophetic? Could it be historic? It could be both. I think the Lord does that.

There are dual fulfillments. We've even seen triple fulfillments of prophecy in the scripture. It's like throwing a stone in a clear little pond and the ripple effect. Prophecy does roll like that, and we see it historically, like for example, Daniel chapter ten and eleven about Antiochus Epiphanes. And then we saw how Daniel's gaze suddenly went past Antiochus all the way to the very end of the world, speaking of a world leader that's coming, that is Antichrist. And it's about both, historical but also prophetic.

So this song is debated as far as that. But basically, you can see the implications of the Lord is a warrior and basically saying, "Scary things are coming." So because scary things are coming, how does Habakkuk feel? Well, that's where he comes to verse sixteen. He says, "When I heard, my belly trembled." Have you ever had butterflies? I think that's what he's talking about.

"I had butterflies in my stomach, and my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops." And this one again contributes more to the local application of the Babylonians coming.

Verse seventeen, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom," interesting, "neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places." To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

Don't you love this? First of all, although the fig tree shall not blossom. When does the Bible talk about the fig tree blossoming? Matthew chapter twenty-four, Jesus said the generation that sees the fig tree blossom. You see, this is the fig tree not blossoming. When the Babylonians crush Israel, there's no blossoming fig tree. But you and I are living in a day where we're seeing the fig tree, that is Israel, blossom.

And that generation will not die off before the coming of Christ. And what's a generation? Well, I've done whole prophecy updates and talked about what a generation might be. But it is an interesting day that we're living in, blossoming in the last days but not in Habakkuk's day. There was no blossoming going on.

But I love how he ends. He says, "Yet with all that stuff, my stomach's sick, my bones feel sick, I see the destruction of Israel coming, with all that," he says, but verse eighteen, "Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation." Don't you love that? No matter what happens in your life, you and I should always verse eighteen it. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

One of the fun things to do is comparing the various prophets. Let's compare Jonah to Habakkuk just for a second. Interesting comparison. Jonah ministered to Nineveh, Habakkuk was ministering, if you would, to Babylon, telling them what was going to happen to them. Jonah ran from God when he heard what he was going to have to do. Habakkuk ran to God to find out what he was going to do. I love that about Habakkuk.

Jonah saw salvation of God in the Gentiles in Nineveh. Habakkuk saw the sovereignty of God through the Gentiles of Babylon. Jonah's story ends in foolishness, where remember he was sitting around worried about his gourd? Habakkuk's story ends in faith as he says, "I'm going to put my trust in the Lord."

Jonah had to learn about his ministry inside the belly of a fish. Habakkuk learned in the high tower on his knees, seeking the Lord and watching and waiting. You see, I like to compare these two because you can either be a Habakkuk or you can be Jonah. What are you going to do? Are you going to learn in worship or learn out in the world? Are you going to learn in the sanctuary or are you going to learn out in the storm?

It's kind of a choice we have to make. How are you going to roll? And oh Lord, help us to be more of a Habakkuk who is just seeking the Lord and doesn't always know everything that's going on, but seeks the Lord, watching, waiting, being patient, submitting to the Lord, and then even if we don't know everything, still saying, "But now the Lord is our strength." He's the one we're going to put our trust in. I love Habakkuk. This is a tiny little minor prophet that packs a powerful punch in the Bible. I love the book of Habakkuk. May the Lord help us to have a Habakkuk mindset. Amen?

Curt: Pastor Brett Meador drawing a challenging verse-by-verse look into the book of Habakkuk to a close, reflecting how trusting in the ways of the Lord are always rewarded in faith in today's word. And I trust you'll stay right there as Pastor Brett will join us here in a moment to close our time in the book of Habakkuk.

But first, today's word is the radio ministry of Athey Creek Church to the south of Portland, Oregon, where Pastor Brett Meador is the senior pastor. Our vision is to proclaim the hope of salvation and help people know Jesus their savior through careful study of the Bible. We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com. Well, I have Pastor Brett with me now.

As we wrap up the book of Habakkuk on today's word, we see a great example of what the prophet Habakkuk did when he saw evil all around him, right?

Brett Meador: Yeah, I think you're right, Curt. What's so powerful is that Habakkuk didn't deny the evil, but he faced it head-on. The turning point comes at the end of the book where he says, "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord." Even if the fig tree doesn't blossom, even if everything falls apart, he chooses to just keep praising God.

Habakkuk teaches us that really our faith shouldn't be based on our circumstances as much as just knowing God's character. In New Testament times, you and I, we have the character seen perfectly through Jesus. And when Habakkuk lifted up his eyes from the problem and looked to the Lord, that's where everything changed for him.

And that's what we have to do: fix our eyes on Jesus. He's the author, the perfecter of our faith. The circumstances didn't change, really, in Habakkuk's story, but he changed. What a lesson for us. We're surrounded by all this uncertainty, sin in our culture, and confusion.

But we can do what Habakkuk did: take our complaints to God, listen for his answer, and then worship our way through the storm. I think that's where that secret strength really comes from.

Curt: Thank you, Pastor Brett, for those closing thoughts and encouragement for us from the book of Habakkuk. Well, if you'd like more information about Pastor Brett Meador, today's word, or Athey Creek Church, you can visit our website at todayswordradio.com. Well, that's all the time we have. On our next today's word, Pastor Brett will look at the next minor prophet in the Old Testament, and that's Zephaniah. Today's word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.