Worshipping When You Don’t Want To
Habakkuk 3:17-18
Rev. Brian Bill
9/30/07
www.pontiacbible.org
Welcome/Announcements/Offering
Opening Song: “Trading My Sorrows”
Singing Interrupted by Questions
* Why does God seem so far away?
* When will He do something for me?
* Why did He take away my loved one?
* When will the bad people get what they deserve?
* Why does my life always seem to go from bad to worse?
It’s sometimes hard for us to jump right into singing when all we feel like doing is sighing. I’m reminded of Psalm 137:1-5 when God’s people couldn’t sing because they were so sad. They even hung up their harps: “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps.”
As we continue in our series called “Worship Matters,” we’ve learned that worship is a verb – God is more interested in our service of worship than in our worship service. We’ve also learned that music has a big place in our praising. And last week we discovered that the real worship wars take place with society, with Satan and with ourselves. Today we’re going to learn how to worship when we don’t want to.
Please turn in your Bible to the Old Testament book of Habakkuk. The best way to find this peculiar prophet is to locate the Gospel of Matthew and go left five books. We don’t know much about this man, other than that his name is hard to pronounce. He was a contemporary of Jeremiah and he ministered in the time right before Babylon was set to destroy Judah. The reason I want us to look at this book is because Habakkuk, whose name means “wrestling,” had a number of questions for God and complaints against Him. The book is actually a dialog between the prophet and God, with Habakkuk arguing that God’s ways are unfathomable and even unjust. He represented the questions of the godly in Judah, and he no doubt gives voice to some of our complaints as well.
Shane Hipps wrote an intriguing article in Leadership Magazine called, “Praise That’s Premature.” He suggests that when worship is just celebration it becomes a kind of pep rally to inspire excitement about who God is. Because grief is an unpleasant emotion we tend to deny our suffering in favor of celebration: “Authenticity and integrity in worship means expressing both lament and praise. Each element completes the other. Without lament, praise is little more than shallow sentimentality and a denial of life’s struggles and sin. Without praise, lament is a denial of hope and grace, both of which are central to our life of faith...” (www.leadershipjournal.net) Hipps points out that the psalms and books like Habakkuk employ “a narrative arc, a movement from grief and lamentation to celebration and joy.” Let’s take a look at this narrative arc where Chapters 1-2 contain the lament and chapter 3 the praise.
When Pain Keeps You from Praising
1. Declare your questions. It’s not wrong to ask questions, or even complain to God. The Book of Job and many of the Psalms express serious questions to God. For example, Psalm 10:1 begins rather abruptly: “Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” God, you may be powerful and you may be personal, but why can’t I sense your presence right now? The psalmist is expressing his frustration at the aloofness of the Almighty. The psalms are saturated with these kinds of questions. Here’s just a sampling.
* Psalm 13:1: “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?”
* Psalm 44:23-24: “Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever. Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?”
Turn now to Habakkuk 1:3: “How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong?” He’s basically charging God with being both indifferent and inactive.
When tragedy leaves you teetering, it’s not unspiritual to declare your questions to God. He’s big enough to handle your cries. Some of you have been rocked by some pretty tough stuff.
What do you do when you’re faced with an avalanche of agony and you feel like God is playing “hide and seek” with you? Some of you think that Christians shouldn’t question God and so you keep your concerns bottled up. Friend, it’s much better to ask God where He’s been than it is to wear your spiritual smiles and act like everything’s going well when you know it isn’t. It’s better to express it to the Almighty than it is to suppress it and live in agony.
I turn to Hipps again: “By incorporating expressions of sorrow, pain, and grief into our worship…the hurting are ushered into God’s presence with honesty. At the same time, the rest of the congregation is reminded of the suffering community gathered in their midst.”
The word question has as its root the word “quest.” If you’re on a quest to understand, if you’re serious about seeking answers, then don’t hesitate to declare your doubts. If you don’t ask, you might miss out on some surprising answers and ultimately short-circuit some growth that God wants to accomplish in your life.
2. Describe your complaints. After declaring his questions to God, Habakkuk next gets real specific and describes his complaints. His main beef is that it doesn’t seem fair that God would use a wicked people like the Babylonians to punish God’s people. Habakkuk spells it out in 1:13: “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?”
3. Deepen your commitment to God. I love the faith progression that takes place in this little book. The hurting follower begins with a “how long” question, followed by two bold “why” questions and then he spells out his complaints in specific detail. As a result of being honest with God, and after questioning and complaining, Habakkuk is now in position to move to the next step in the praise process. Check out 2:1: “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.” Habakkuk is now ready to hear God’s answer even though he’s not going to like what God has to say. We can learn from this same process. If you have questions and complaints, don’t stop there. Express them and then turn again to the Lord.
God answers Habakkuk but never really answers his “how long” or his “why” questions. But He does give him two anchors to hold on to. In verse 2, God tells him to “write down the revelation.” Anchor #1 is the Word of God. In verse 3, God tells him that the Babylonians will destroy them even though it will be delayed for awhile. God sets forth the second anchor in verse 4, which is quoted in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38. In the midst of the mess of life, when problems are pummeling you, hold on to this: “…But the righteous will live by faith.” In other words, “Hold on to me Habakkuk, because I know what I’m doing.” When our faith is anchored to the Word of God we will be able to handle what comes our way.
I love what Ruth Bell Graham once said: “I lay my ‘whys’ before your cross in worship kneeling, my mind too numb for thought, my heart beyond all feeling. And worshipping realize that I in knowing you don’t need a ‘why.’”
Moving from Pain to Praise
Do you know that it’s possible to praise even when you’re in pain? You can love God when you experience loss. In fact, the most authentic times of adoration are often when we feel the most awful. As we come to chapter 3, let’s learn from Habakkuk as he followed a process that moved him from pain to praise. Worship is not complete until we follow the arc from agony to adoration. When pain has been acknowledged, we are invited to focus on God’s faithfulness in the midst of suffering. Verse 1 tells us that this chapter is really the prophet’s prayer: “A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet.” He’s moved from a complaint about problems to a composition of prayerful praise.
John Walvoord writes: “Habakkuk’s book begins with an interrogation of God but ends as an intercession to God. Worry is transformed into worship. Fear turns to faith. Terror becomes trust. Hang-ups are resolved with hope. Anguish melts into adoration.” If you’re struggling today, I urge you to follow this five-phased process.
1. Revere (2-4). Look with me at how Habakkuk reveres God beginning in verse 2: “LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden.” When filled with grief, gaze on the glory of God. Habakkuk begins by focusing on God’s holy character. God is…
* Awesome – “I stand in awe”
* Merciful – “Remember mercy”
* Immanent – “God came”
* Holy – “The Holy One”
* Glorious – “His glory covered the heavens”
* Praiseworthy – “His praise filled the earth”
* Filled with splendor – “His splendor was like the sunrise”
* Powerful – “From His hand, where His power was hidden”
God often doesn’t answer the “when” and “why” questions because the answer is really who – God Himself. We need to call to mind God’s personality – He’s a personal God, who knows our troubles and sees our tears. And we need to see Him as powerful – He’s God and I’m not. God sees what I’m going through and because He is King, He can choose to do something about it, if it’s in accord with his sweet purposes for my life. Psalm 93:1: “The LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed in majesty and is armed with strength.”
Whatever life tragedy you are facing right now, come back to the personality and power of God and commit yourself to His ways. Psalm 112:7: “He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.”
Do you remember the first sentence in the “Purpose Driven Life?” It’s not about you. God’s plans and purposes are often different than ours as Isaiah 55:9 declares: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Do you revere God? The first step is always to expand your view of God so that you can see His greatness and His grace. Figure out who He is and then you’ll understand who you are.
2. Review (5-15). Habakkuk then reviews God’s redemptive work in history in verses 5-15. We won’t take the time to look at this but suffice it say that all but one of these verses speaks about God and what He has done. Friends, it’s always a good idea to go back and remember what God has done in your life and in the lives of His children in the past. That’s why it’s good to sing the hymns. That’s why we’re taking the Old Testament journey at the beginning of each year. We must remember that God has always come to the rescue of those He has redeemed. When we review we discover that God is doing much more than we thought.
Did you know that we are told to remember or not forget over 200 times in Scripture? I think it’s because we have such poor memories. When we’re discouraged we must review and then recite what God has done. Psalm 103:2: “”Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” What God has done in the past He will do in the present and He will be faithful in the future. Verse 6 says that His ways are eternal, which means He hasn’t changed, nor will He change. He is always involved; even when He seems inactive. Jesus said it like this in John 5:17: “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” Friend, when you’re not sure you can worship because of the pain, strive to revere God and then review what He has done.
3. Rest (16-17). The third step is to wait patiently. Verse 16: “I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.” Habakkuk decided to rest in God’s timing, even though He didn’t like what was about to happen. The phrase “wait patiently” means to rest quietly and silently. When you don’t understand what God is doing, wait on Him. Rest in Him instead of rebelling. We’re a lot like Margaret Thatcher who once said, “I am extraordinarily patient provided I get my own way in the end.”
Have you noticed the tiny word “Selah” after verses 3, 9 and 11? The word appears 74 times in the Bible with all the other occurrences in the Book of Psalms. This curious phrase is most likely a musical rest, in which the singers stopped singing and only the instruments were heard. According to one Bible dictionary, this phrase can also signify a musical crescendo that is then followed by silent reflection. It also carries with it the idea of “meditation.” We’re called to pause and meditate three different times so that we can apply what the Almighty is saying to us.
It’s my observation that almost everyone is waiting for God to do something. If you want to move from worry to worship then you must wait. Psalm 130:5: “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.” Would you notice that Habakkuk is waiting for something really bad? He’s told to wait in 2:3 and now he determines to do so: “Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”
While I grew up in the Dairy state and spent quite a bit of time on farms, farming on the southern side of the Cheddar Curtain is different. I’m trying to learn all I can but realize that I still have far to go. For instance, this past Monday somebody mentioned to me that she was having a hard time knowing what she should do with her beans. Thinking that she was referring to the garden variety I told her that she should freeze them. I think she’s still laughing at my response. In an effort to increase my farming awareness I spent a couple hours in a combine on Tuesday with a farmer friend. I was impressed with every aspect of what he does. I didn’t offer any food handling advice so I was safe.
As you probably know, the harvest of corn and beans is going really well for most farmers. It is no doubt the best crop in years. Many farmers however, remember years when the ears of corn weren’t so great and when the beans were frozen by bad weather. Habakkuk imagines the horror of failed crops and wiped out livestock. Look at verse 17: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls.” In an agricultural society it can’t get much worse than that. These were all staple foods that sustained them. When the vine flourishes and the olive crop is abundant, the Bible uses this as a picture of peace and rest. But here the fruit will fail, grapes will become gross, oil will evaporate and every other crop will be consumed. The word “fails” means to be disappointed. On top of that, there will no meat because all their livestock will be lost, from weak sheep to strong cattle.
In order to feel the weight of the world in which Habakkuk lived, imagine this scenario (adapted from Pastor Steve Brandon: www.rockvalleybiblechurch.org). You’ve just had a conversation with God and He told you in no uncertain terms that America’s days were numbered. Then, imagine that God proceeded to tell you how the collapse of our nation would take place. Our economy would sink, with the Dow Jones plunging from almost 10,000 to 100. Money would become worthless and unemployment would rise drastically. Government would begin to collapse and food would become scarce. Then, at our most vulnerable time, systematically controlled terrorist attacks would commence, followed by a full-scale attack by North Korea and Iran. Using nuclear warheads to blow up our nuclear power plants scores would die. Those who don’t die will be taken to Iran to be trained in its army. By 2010, America as we know it today would cease to exist.
How would you react if this was the message you received? Would you revere, review and rest…or would you unravel?
4. Rejoice (18). Disappointment does not have to lead to despair. I love the small word “yet” in verse 18: “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” Even though there will be no food and no flocks, Habakkuk has determined to rejoice. Three “thoughs” are followed by a crescendo of “yet.” This is very similar to the process Jeremiah went through in the Book of Lamentations. He was filled with “why” questions and he listed his grievances to God but when he’s finished, he forced himself to think about what is true. Listen to what he wrote in Lamentations 3:19-23:“I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Job experienced a similar thing when he writes in Job 13:15: “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him” and Job 19:25-26: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.” Look back at Habakkuk 3:18. This can literally be translated: “I will jump for joy in the Lord. I will spin around for delight in God!” The tense of this means, “I will shout for joy and would shout on; I will bound for joy and would bound on.” Notice that he rejoices “in” the Lord; when He has nothing else, He has the Lord. When I can’t rejoice in my situation, I can always rejoice in my Sovereign. In the midst of despair he will delight in the Lord. Check this out. The word for “Savior” is the Hebrew “Yeshua.” As believers we rejoice in God the Father and God the Savior-Son.
When I study for a sermon I try to read what preachers of old had to say about a certain passage. My favorite is Charles Spurgeon but on occasion I also read John Calvin, Arthur Pink and Harry Ironside. This week I came across a sermon by Charles Finney. His words are jarring: “Many seem to have no enjoyment in religion any longer than the providence of God seems to favor their particular plans and favorite schemes. Forsooth, God does just as I want Him to do, all my notions are exactly realized…God is good and I am happy…But let Him thwart them, run across their track, turn upside down their cherished plans…and what then? They tolerate God perhaps, perhaps not even that; they by no means rejoice now in their God…They have no true religion…When God was so good and kind to them, they thought they loved Him, but it was themselves they loved, and Him only because He was subservient to them. They were pleased to have God for an almighty servant, surely they were; but to have Him on the throne, that was another matter…Instead of rejoicing in God’s will, whether or not it was theirs, God must succumb to them, or they are displeased and grieved.” (www.gospeltruth.net).
Chuck Swindoll writes: “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.” No matter what happens, Habakkuk has already made the choice to rejoice. Revere God and then review what He’s done. Rest in Him and then rejoice in Him. If you find that difficult then pray this prayer from Psalm 85:6: “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?”
5. Rely (19). The final step is to rely on God for strength. “The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.” Habakkuk holds on to the fact that God is sovereign, which refers to His unlimited power and absolute control. God’s sovereignty should always have a strengthening impact on us. As one person put it: “If the Sovereign Lord is your strength, then your strength is more than sufficient.” Notice also that it’s not so much that God gives us strength; instead He gives us the strength of Himself.
When troubles come, and they will, we must submit to the sovereignty of God. I think of Noah and the ark in Genesis 6. Noah is given a specific blueprint of how to build it and who gets to go inside. Everything is described except for the fact that there is no sail and no rudder. Noah’s responsibility is to rely on God – He will steer him where He wants him to go. It’s a good reminder that God is in control, not us. Warren Wiersbe adds that we live by promises, not explanations. Or to say it another way: He is God and we are not. Some of us secretly say something like this: “If God is God then…” when we should really say, “God is God and so I’ll trust Him.”
A deer is swift and surefooted and can scamper up hills and mountains to find safety and freedom even on rocky paths and difficult ground. Shortly after I became a Christian I read a book called, “Hinds Feet on High Places” by Hannah Hurnard, which is an allegory of the Christian life. It’s the story of a young woman named “Much-Afraid,” and her journey away from her Fearing family into the High Places of the Shepherd, guided by her two companions Sorrow and Suffering. Have you made it to the high places? Don’t discount the importance of going there with sorrow and suffering. With God we can rise above our circumstances.
In chapter one Habakkuk was low. In chapter two he climbs up to the watchtower to wait for God’s answer. And in chapter three he is walking on the heights. He has steadily progressed on an upward arc toward God. Are you ready to move from pain to praise? The way for that to happen is to revere, review, rest, rejoice and rely.
Implications
I’d like to draw three implications from what we’ve learned today.
1. Don’t unplug or you will unravel. There are people who are not here today because they’re mad at God for something that’s happened in their life. May I appeal to you to not unplug from church when you’re hurting? You can be real here. Hebrews 10:25 offers a warning to each of us: “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
It’s easy to get out of the habit of going to church. And, once you establish the habit of going, you will hang in here when hard times come. Someone said it this way: “Make Sunday attendance a habit so when you can’t praise, you will continue the habit anyway.” Here are some ways for you to plug in at PBC…
* Small Groups – we have openings. Each group has an empty chair.
* Mom’s Bible Study – starts this week.
* Men’s Night Out – this Saturday.
2. Praise must become personal. Verse 18 says, “I will rejoice…I will be joyful.” Here’s a question. Do you have a personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ? If you don’t, I don’t know how you’re getting through life. In order to handle your problems you must first let Jesus handle you.
3. Turn what’s wrong into a song. Habakkuk’s name can mean not only “wrestling,” it also means “embrace.” He’s moved from fighting with God to faith in God; from wrestling to worship. It’s very interesting to know that Habakkuk 3 is not only a prayer; it’s also a praise song. Look at 3:19: “…For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.” Evidently Habakkuk wrote the lyrics and now he wants the music director to utilize instruments and put this poem of praise to song. 3:1 uses the phrase: “On shigionoth.” This word is a bit of a mystery but most commentators believe it refers to music or a musical instrument. While most simply leave it untranslated, the Amplified Bible translates it this way, “set to wild, enthusiastic and triumphal music.”
I wonder if the music team is ready to come back up now. If you’re still sighing, it’s OK. But could I encourage you to sing in the midst of your sighing? It’s time to turn your doubts to shouts! Job 35:10 says that God “gives songs in the night.” Let’s sing out to Him this morning so we’ll have a song to sing at night when things are dark.
Music Team Back Up
