I have a book of devotionals by JOHN FISCHER, entitled, Real Christians Don’t Ask Why. The Don’t is crossed out in the title. How I wish that it were also crossed out in our hearts and minds, so that we can confront the questions we pretend aren’t there. All of us have questions, doubts, and unresolved issues. It’s natural. It’s inevitable. It’s life. From innocent childhood inquiries to complex university debates, life is filled with questions. Yet we pretend our questions are not there. Even in the church, we thoughtlessly declare that Jesus is the answer without really addressing the questions. Why? The fact is that questions leave us weak, needy, and vulnerable. They open up gaping holes in our personalities, our lifestyles, and even our theology. So rather than honestly facing life’s questions, we worship answers. The good news is that we are free to take our questions to God – each, every, and any question. The bad news is that God is free to refuse to answer our questions. More often than not, God opts not to answer our questions, because he doesn’t want us to make idols of answers. God wants us to worship, trust, and obey him. So God entertains our questions, not necessarily to answer them, but to draw us closer to him. This is what the Prophet Habakkuk experienced.
The prophecy of Habakkuk is unique. Most prophets speak to the people of behalf of God. Habakkuk speaks to God on the behalf of the people. But he doesn’t stand in a priestly posture. Habakkuk is angry with both God and the people. Habakkuk is the DOUBTING THOMAS of the Old Testament. Like Job, he questions the moral government of God. Job questions God in response to personal evil. Habakkuk questioned God in response to national evil. Habakkuk witnessed firsthand the pervasive wickedness of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. In Habakkuk 1:1-4, he questions the TIMING of God’s judgment. He wanted to know how long God was going to sit on his hands while violence, iniquity, and perverse judgment went unpunished. Verses 5-11 records God’s response. According to verse 6, God would raise up the Chaldeans – the Babylonian Empire – who would capture Jerusalem, overthrown Judah, and carry its inhabitants into captivity. Note the wording of verse 6, “I am raising up the Chaldeans.” While Habakkuk was complaining, God was already raising up the Babylonian Empire as an instrument of his holy judgment
That answered Habakkuk’s question about the timing of God’s judgment. But it also initiated another confrontation over the MANNER of God’s judgment. In Habakkuk 1:12-2:1, he raises his second major question: How can a holy God use the Chaldeans as an instrument of judgment, when they were more wicked than Judah? Verses 2-20 records God’s response. But it is not a direct answer. Basically, God promises that in his own time he would punish the Chaldeans as well. The controversial dialogue ends there, with the prophet’s questions essentially unanswered. Then the third and final chapter closes Habakkuk’s prophecy with a prayer and a psalm. The question is how did Habakkuk go from arguing to singing, even though he still had unanswered questions and unresolved issues? Well, even though God did not put all the pieces of the puzzle in place for Habakkuk, God did allow him to see the big picture through a promise recorded in the last line of Habakkuk 2:4: “But the righteous shall live by his faith.”
This promise is the point of Habakkuk’s prophecy. In fact, it is the point of the Bible. It is quoted in Romans 1:16, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38 to defend the doctrine of JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE. Justification is the central teaching of the New Testament, which asserts that the righteous merit needed for sinful people to be saved from God’s holy wrath is accredited to the account of those who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross. This cardinal New Testament doctrine is succinctly stated in this Old Testament promise: “The righteous shall live by faith.” So Habakkuk was content to live with unanswered questions, because he had this assurance: Faith honors God, so God honors faith. And because of that assurance…
• This book opens with gloom, but it closes in glory.
• It opens with a question mark, but it closes with a exclamation point.
• It begins with doubt, but it ends with confidence.
• It begins with complaints, but it ends with celebration.
• It begins with Habakkuk singing the blues, but it closes in 3:17-19 with what scholars call, “A HYMN OF FAITH.”
This hymn is one of the strongest affirmations of faith in scripture. And it outlines fur us the dynamics of living faith.
I. THE REALITY THAT CONFRONTS THE LIFE OF FAITH
One of the popular heresies in the church is the foolish and dangerous notion that faith is a force; that those who use the force of faith can write their own ticket with God. Because of the high profile religious personalities who teach this error, many people have been deceived to think that faith guarantees favorable circumstances. But Habakkuk disabuses us of that blasphemous myth and gives us a realistic understanding of authentic faith. Verse 17 says: “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive may fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls.”
That does not sound like name-it-claim-it to me. This is definitely not a positive confession. If our words create reality, Habakkuk was in big trouble. He doesn’t envision supernatural debt cancellation. His is a vision of total economic devastation. He anticipates the awful results of the imminent Babylonian invasion. Yet he sings these words as a declaration of faith, not as an expression of doubt. This is not an anomaly. Scripture is littered with illustrations that affirm that faith does not guarantee favorable circumstances.
• Look at ABRAHAM climbing Moriah to sacrifice his son to God.
• Look at MOSES pleading for either death or a new job description.
• Look at JOB scratching his painful boils under the hot sun.
• Look at DAVID hiding in a cave from Saul.
• Look at ELIJAH moping around in a desert with Jezebel in hot pursuit.
Yet we don’t view them as people who didn’t have enough faith to change their circumstances. We don’t view them as people who were content to live beneath their spiritual potential. And we don’t view them as people who were victims of traditional teaching. We view them as giants of the faith. Their exemplary faith reminds us that physical health and financial prosperity do not necessarily prove that a person has faith in God. It may prove that they eat right and work hard.
LESLIE NEWBIGIN wisely stated: “Tempting God means trying to get more assurance than God has given.” God has not guaranteed things will work out your way. And to claim that assurance is arrogant presumption, not faith. True faith does not stomp on the devil’s head. Faith walks the fine-line between the unfairness of life and the goodness of God, with the patient hope that God will have the last word. Mark it down, Christians live in poverty, get sick, lose their hair and teeth, and need eyeglasses at approximately the same rate as everyone else. And Christians die at the exact same rate: 100 percent. In the meantime, we live on a fallen planet full of sin, sickness, and suffering, from which even the Son of God was not exempt. Let me tell you why: Living in faith involves me pleasing God far more than God pleasing me. “Faith,” said D. ELTON TRUEBLOOD, “is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.” Job 13:15a puts it this way: “Though he slay me, I will him in him.” Did you get that? Faith is not a guarantee. It’s trust. It is to trust in the dark what God has taught you in the light. It is to live contingently on the character, promises, and faithfulness of God. It is to say, in the words of one anonymous holocaust victim:
I BELIEVE IN THE SUN – EVEN WHEN IT DOES NOT SHINE.
I BELIEVE IN LOVE – EVEN WHEN IT IS NOT SHOWN.
AND I BELIEVE IN GOD – EVEN WHEN HE DOES NOT SPEAK.
II. THE REJOICING THAT CHARACTERISTICS THAT LIFE OF FAITH
As a missionary to the South Sea Islands, JOHN C. PATTON translated the scriptures for the natives. When he came to the word “believe,” he searched for a word the natives would understand. But he couldn’t seem to find the right word. One day, as Patton was working, a message arrived. He had run from the other side of the island and was out of breath. He sank down into a chair in Patterson’s room, leaned back, and relaxed. Startled and thrilled, Patton realized a connection. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Give me the word for that.” Patton used it to translate belief – a word that meant to take a load off, put your weight on another, and relax.
Let me ask you something. Do you believe in God? I did not ask if you believe in God. I asked do you believe God. What are you depending on for strength, guidance, and peace? Who’s pushing your swing? Many of us automatically answer, “Of course, I believe God.” That’s the yearbook answer church-going people give. But the profession of faith does not assume the possession of faith. There are a lot of people who talk-the-talk who do not walk-the-walk. The difference between the two can be summarized with one word: ATTITUDE. People who don’t really believe God allow circumstances to dictate their attitude. But people who believe God sing Habakkuk’s hymn of faith: “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, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” Literally, verse 18 says, “I will jump for joy in the Lord; I will spin around in delight in God.” In the face of defeat, despair, and destruction, Habakkuk offers rebellious praise to God. He stands up to his problems and says, “Though everything around me fails – the fields, the vineyards, the flocks, the herds – I still have something to shout about!” RICHARD BAXTER says, “Here is the hilarity of faith! Joy at its best with circumstances at their worst.” Mark it down.
• Living faith naturally results in stubborn joy.
• Faith is the womb that gives birth to joy.
• Joy will always blossom wherever faith is cultivated.
• Faith and joy are inseparable lovers: if one is present, the other is never far away.
• You show me a person who has true faith and I’ll show you a person who has real joy.
When I speak of joy, I am not talking about volume, giddiness, or toothy smiles. I’m talking about enthusiasm in its truest sense. The word ENTHUSIASM is derived from two Greek words: the preposition en (in) and the noun theos (God). It means to have God on the inside – to be GOD-POSSESSED. That’s joy. And Habakkuk had it. He could keep rejoicing no matter what happened with his crops and cattle, because his joy was not in his crops and cattle. Verse 18 states the source of Habakkuk’s joy: “yet I will rejoice in the Lord.” Just in case you missed it, he says it again: “I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” Habakkuk couldn’t rejoice in his circumstances, but he could rejoice in God. That’s the open secret of true joy.
There are two ways to live: one says IF the other says THOUGH. One says: “If everything goes well, if my life is prosperous, if no one I love dies, if I’m successful, then I’ll believe in God and say my prayers and go to church and give what I can afford.” But where this if mentality uses circumstances to interpret God, the though mentality uses God to interpret circumstances. It says: “I believe God. So though evil prospers, though loved-ones die, though my dreams are not fulfilled, yet… nevertheless… precisely then… I will rejoice in the Lord.”
• You don’t have to try to buy joy.
• You don’t have to try to find happiness in prosperity.
• You don’t have to try to find self-worth through other people who need it just as bad as you do.
True joy is available to everyone, even those stripped of material possessions, for true joy are found in God. It comes through a faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that enables you to rejoice in the worst of circumstances. Psalm 34:1 says: “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”
Philippians 4:4 says: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” And James 1:2 says: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
When author Lloyd C. Douglas was in college, he lived in a boarding house. On the first floor resided a retired music teacher, infirm and unable to leave his apartment. They had a morning ritual: Douglas would come downstairs, open the old man’s door and ask, “Well, what’s the good news?” The old man would pick up his tuning fork, tap it on the side of his wheelchair, and say, “That’s middle C! It was middle C yesterday; it will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now. The tenor upstairs sings flat, the piano across the hall is out of tune, but, my friend, that is middle C.”
That old man discovered a constant reality on which he could depend, an unchanging truth to which he could cling. And I tell you that Jesus Christ is the “middle C” of the soul. In a cacophonous world of competing truths, his pitch defines reality and sets every other note in its proper place. Hebrews 13:8 says: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Because Jesus is your “middle C,” you can hear the music of heaven even when you’re going through hell on earth.
III. THE RESOURCE THAT COMFORTS THE LIFE OF FAITH
PHIL YANCEY coined my favorite definition of faith: “paranoia in reverse.” Think about it. A paranoid person is utterly convinced that something or someone is out to get them. They are convinced that there is a conspiracy against them, even if they don’t have any real evidence that clearly proves the validity of their fears. You can even give them evidence that clearly proves their fears are just imaginary. But that’s won’t matter. They will only take your defense of the logical alternatives as proof that you are in on the conspiracy. Faith works the same way, in reverse. Paranoid people are convinced someone is out to hurt them. Believers are convinced that someone is out to help them.
Hebrews 11:1 puts it this way: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” That’s a conspiracy of trust. Listen to it again: Faith doesn’t need assurance. It is the assurance of unseen things. That’s the kind of faith Habakkuk had. In verses 18-19, he makes two statements about his relationship to God. In verse 18 Habakkuk says God is my salvation and in verse 19 he says God is my strength. Verse 17 gives six pieces of evidence that could be used to argue that Habakkuk did not have the favor of God. Yet Habakkuk was comforted by God’s salvation and strength. Notice the personal pronouns Habakkuk used: “my salvation” and “my strength.” Habakkuk had a proper understanding, a personal relationship, and intimate fellowship with God. So he trusted that, whatever happened, God would take care of him. That’s faith. Living faith factors God into the outcome of every situation. The text shows us two specific ways God influences the outcome of our circumstances.
A. GOD SAVES.
In the New Testament, the word “salvation” is primarily connected to the forgiveness of sin. But in the Old Testament, salvation is defined more comprehensively. It refers to deliverance, rescue, and safety. This is the sense is this sense Habakkuk intends. In verse 17, Habakkuk envisions losing everything that was essential for survival in the agricultural world of the ancient Near East. But in verse 18, he determines to rejoice. He says, “God may not save my crops and cattle, but he will save me.” Like Habakkuk, you may be wrestling with God’s timing or methods. You’ve got unanswered questions and unresolved issues.
• Where was God when I lost my job?
• Where was God when sickness began to attack my body?
• Where was God when my loved-one died?
• Where was God when my family fell apart?
• Where was God when my heart was broken?
God was there with you every moment and every step of the way. I know God was there, because you are still here. So rather than complaining or arguing or questioning the government of God, you should thank God for the things he has saved, delivered, and rescued you from. Psalm 18:46 says: “The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of my salvation.” Psalm 27:1 says: “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 68:19 says: “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.”
B. GOD STRENGTHENS.
Verse 19a says, “God, the Lord, is my strength.” Then the next two lines go on to tell us what that means: “God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” This reference to deer’s feet is a Hebrew idiom for agility, speed, and surefootedness. Habakkuk uses it to say that because the Lord is his strength, he could move joyfully through difficult circumstances like a deer dancing through a dark forest. The phrase “my high places” is also a Hebrew idiom. It speaks of challenge, responsibility, or hardship. And Habakkuk says that God will make him walk on the hills. That is, God would get him through whatever troubles or trials he had to face.
These two pictures are comforting. One says that there are some things God will get us out of. And the other says there are some things God will get us through. God will provide the strength that you need to deal with your situation. Psalm 46:1 says: “God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble.” Isaiah 40:31 says: “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” And Philippians 4:13 says: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
THE BLOOD THAT JESUS SHED FOR ME, WAY BACK ON CALVARY
IT SOOTHS MY DOUBTS AND CALMS MY FEARS AND IT DRIES ALL MY TEARS
THE BLOOD THAT GIVES ME STRENGTH FROM DAY TO DAY
IT SHALL NEVER LOSE ITS POWER
IT REACHES TO THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN
AND IT FLOWS TO THE LOWEST VALLEY
THE BLOOD THAT GIVES ME STRENGTH FROM DAY TO DAY
IT SHALL NEVER LOSE ITS POWER
