Go! And Trust The God Who Commands The Storm - Habakkuk 3:8-10 Series

Go! And Trust the God Who Commands the Storm - Habakkuk 3:8-10

INTRODUCTION — “WHEN THE STORM REFUSES TO STOP”

Church, have you ever noticed that storms do not ask permission?

They do not knock politely on life’s door.

They burst in, they howl, they shake, they terrify.

Some storms begin with a phone call.

Some with a diagnosis.

Some with a betrayal.

Some with a disappointment so deep you feel as if the ground has been pulled out from underneath your feet.

And yet Scripture tells us not only that God is with us in the storm…

but that He commands the storm.

This morning's message in our Go! And… series is titled:

“Go! And… Trust the God Who Commands the Storm”

We will stand with the prophet Habakkuk as he trembles before a God who rides upon the waters…

and then we will stand with the disciples as they tremble before a Saviour who silences the sea.

Habakkuk 3:8–10 (NLT):

“Was it in anger, Lord, that you struck the rivers and parted the sea?

Were you displeased with them?

No, you were sending your chariots of salvation!

You brandished your bow and your quiver of arrows.

You split open the earth with flowing rivers.

The mountains watched and trembled.

Onward swept the raging waters.

The deep shouted out, lifting its hands in submission.”

Mark 4:35–41 (NLT):

“As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.’

So they took Jesus in the boat and started out…

But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.

Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat…

The disciples woke him up, shouting, ‘Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?’

When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Silence! Be still!’

Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.

Then he asked them, ‘Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?’

The disciples were absolutely terrified.

‘Who is this man?’ they asked each other.

‘Even the wind and waves obey him!’”

POINT 1 — GOD’S POWER OVER CHAOS IS NOT ACCIDENTAL, IT IS PURPOSEFUL (Habakkuk 3:8–10)

Habakkuk’s prayer is a poetic remembrance of God’s past deliverance.

Verse 8 asks whether God struck rivers and seas in anger — but the prophet answers his own question: No! His actions were for salvation.

The Hebrew word for “anger” here is charon (??????) — burning fury.

Habakkuk says, “Lord, this wasn’t random rage. You were directing history toward salvation.”

The phrase “your chariots of salvation” uses the Hebrew yeshuah (?????????), meaning deliverance, rescue, salvation.

Habakkuk sees God not as a distant spectator but as a God who rides into battle for His people.

God’s interventions in Scripture — from the Red Sea to the Jordan River — were demonstrations of His authority over chaos.

The ancient world viewed seas as symbols of evil, danger, and uncontrollable power.

Yet Scripture repeatedly shows God taming the waters.

Psalm 93:3–4 (NLT):

“The floods have risen up, O Lord.

The floods have roared like thunder;

the floods have lifted their pounding waves.

But mightier than the violent raging of the seas,

mightier than the breakers on the shore—

the Lord above is mightier than these!”

The Hebrew word for “mightier” (adir) means majestic, superior, unbeatable.

The psalmist is not giving us poetic comfort — he is declaring spiritual reality: God is sovereign over what overwhelms us.

John Piper: “God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of only three of them.”

Habakkuk only saw chaos, but God was moving chariots of salvation.

So too in your life — the storm you fear may be the very vehicle God uses to deliver you.

The Man Watching the Weaver

A man once visited a weaver creating a beautiful tapestry.

From beneath, all he could see were tangled threads — no pattern, no meaning.

But when the weaver turned the tapestry around, the man gasped at the beauty.

When life looks like tangled chaos from below, God sees the completed masterpiece from above.

When you face storms:

Don’t assume God is punishing you.

Don’t believe the lie that God’s forgotten you.

Remember: God’s purposes are bigger than your perception.

POINT 2 — JESUS REVEALS THE GOD WHO COMMANDS THE STORM

(Mark 4:35–41)

This is no ordinary storm. The Greek word is lailaps (?a??a?) — a whirlwind, a tempest, a violent atmospheric disturbance.

Fishermen who had grown up on this lake were petrified.

And yet — Jesus is asleep.

The Greek for “rebuke” (epitimao ?p?t?µ??) is the same word used when Jesus rebukes demons.

The storm is treated not as a natural inconvenience but as an intruder trespassing against the will of God.