Even If You Don't

1. The challenge to faithfulness even when things don’t go our way.

2. Habakkuk 3:16-19

16 I hear, and my body trembles; 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.

17 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,

18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

19 GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

3. David Barton wrote an article about the background and commemoration of the “Boston Massacre” (Founders’ Bible, Brad Cummings and Lane Wubbels, Gen Editors (Newburg Park, CA: Shiloh Publishing, 2012), pp. 1371-1374); Note some of the highlights:

a. Boston was established in 1630 – people lived peaceful lives focuses on family; church; community – good relations with Indian tribes of the area; self-governing – elected their own leaders in church and state; until 1765.

b. Rise of King George III brought in Colonial micromanagement of the Monarchy

• King appointed tyrannical governors who began limiting freedoms [Sound familiar? CA; NY; MI; etc.

• British agents and agencies sprang up to regulate the daily activities of the people [us?]

• Religious Freedom was threatened – King wanted to appoint Anglican Bishop over America, forcing all of the colonies into the Church of England or be guilty of treason (clergy tax)

• New taxes on commodities and services whether they wanted/used them or not [no voice]

c. Boston was about 20,000 in population and began objecting

• God-fearing, law-abiding people

• Their objections: This violated the British Traditions, Law, Bill of Rights

• King’s response was to send 4000 seasoned troops to Boston to intimidate and censor the people. [Brown Shirts; Antifa; BLM; et al

“When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say.” George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings (NY: Bantam Books, 1999), p. 229.

• Coercive acts to disband colonial juries; replaced elected officials with unelected, officials appointed by the King; Boarded Troops in American Homes by force; considered one of the Intolerable Acts [Reason for third amendment to the Constitution: No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

d. Parallel to 2 Chronicles 10 and the beginning of the reign of Rehoboam:

• Old Advisors – lift taxes (2 Chronicles 10:7)

• Younger Advisors – Add to the burden (2 Chronicles 10:14)

• Rehoboam listened to the younger and split the kingdom

e. Mounting Tensions

• February 22, 1770 – rising tensions; British fired into a crowd, killing a child

• March 5, 1770 – Teens insult British soldiers and one of them clouts a teen with his rifle butt; 200 Bostonians gathered and attacked soldiers throwing snowballs and sticks; British fire into the crowd, killing five. This became a rallying point for Americans

• Annual commemoration of the Boston Massacre – John Hancock gave the address in 1774 (British retaliation was approaching shortly after Boston Tea Party – December 16, 1773)

• Last paragraph of Hancock’s address to the crowd:

I have the most animating confidence that the present noble struggle for liberty will terminate gloriously for America. And let us play the man for our God, and for the cities of our God; while we are using the means in our power, let us humbly commit our righteous cause to the great Lord of the Universe, [Psalm 37:5] who loveth righteousness and hateth iniquity. [Hebrews 1:9] And having secured the approbation of our hearts, by a faithful and unwearied discharge of our duty to our country, let us joyfully leave our concerns in the hands of him [1 Peter 5:7] who raiseth up and pulleth down the empires and kingdoms of the world as he pleases; [Daniel 2:21] and with cheerful submission to his sovereign will, [Job 22:21] devoutly say: "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet we will rejoice in the Lord, we will joy in the God of our salvation." [Habakkuk 3:17-18] [John Hancock Boston Massacre Oration - March 5, 1774 (revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com)] An Oration; Delivered March 5, 1774, at the Request of the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston To Commemorate the Bloody Tragedy of the Fifth of March 1770. by the Honorable John Hancock, Esq (FB&C Limited, 2018).