God Is Faithful Series

Introduction

I am currently preaching a series of sermons that I am calling, “Glory: The Character of God.” In this five-week-long series, I am exploring God’s self-revelation of himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7.

God revealed several of his attributes to Moses in Exodus 34:6–7, which reads as follows:

6 The LORD passed before him [that is, Moses] and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Two sermons ago, we examined the truth that God is merciful and gracious. Last time, we examined the truth that God is slow to anger. Today, we will examine the truth that God is faithful.

The text that I would like to use to see that God is faithful is from the Prophet Habakkuk.

We don’t know much about Habakkuk. He most likely wrote his prophetic book somewhere between 640 - 615 BC.

God had used Assyria to bring about the fall of Israel in 722 BC. Now, Assyria was about to fall to Babylon. Moreover, God was going to use Babylon to bring about the fall of Judah, which took place in 586 BC.

Habakkuk wrestled with the fact that God would use a pagan nation to punish his own people.

Nevertheless, by the end of the book, Habakkuk has learned to trust in the faithfulness of God who works out all things for his own glory.

Scripture

Let us read Habakkuk’s prayer in Habakkuk 3:1-16:

1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.

2 O LORD, 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.

3 God came from Teman,

and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah

His splendor covered the heavens,

and the earth was full of his praise.

4 His brightness was like the light;

rays flashed from his hand;

and there he veiled his power.

5 Before him went pestilence,

and plague followed at his heels.

6 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.

7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;

the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.

8 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?

9 You stripped the sheath from your bow,

calling for many arrows. Selah

You split the earth with rivers.

10 The mountains saw you and writhed;

the raging waters swept on;

the deep gave forth its voice;

it lifted its hands on high.

11 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.

12 You marched through the earth in fury;

you threshed the nations in anger.

13 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. Selah

14 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.

15 You trampled the sea with your horses,

the surging of mighty waters.

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.

Lesson

We live in a very impatient society. We have all been programmed to get whatever we want when we want it. It’s the product that counts! And so the value of the process is often lost.

The Russian comedian Yakof Smirnoff made this point about Americans in one of his monologues. Smirnoff is the one who always ended his jokes by saying, “What a country!”

He told the story of when he first visited a supermarket in America. He said he walked down one aisle and saw milk powder—just add water and you have instant milk.

He went on a little further and saw soup powder—just add water and you have instant soup.

He went even further and he was looking at breakfast powder—just add water and you have instant breakfast.