Faith and Thankfulness in Hard Times
Habakkuk 3:16-19
#Thanksgiving2019
INTRODUCTION… http://www.supersummary.com/hinds-feet-on-high-places/summary/ (adapted)
“Hinds’ Feet on High Places” is an allegorical novel by Hannah Hurnard that illustrates the Christian journey from an immature believer to a mature believer. It was published in 1955 and follows the story of a girl named Much-Afraid through her journey to the peak of a mountain.
Much-Afraid is an orphan with deformities in her face and feet. She speaks slowly and has trouble walking. She lives in the Valley of Humiliation with her adoptive Family of Fearings. She begins to work for the Chief Shepherd whom they despise. They try to remove her from his service by insisting she marry a member of their family, Craven Fear. She cries to the Chief Shepherd that she wishes to journey to the High Places.
He introduces her to Sorrow and Suffering who will travel with her. She is frightened, but she is dedicated to the Shepherd, so she sets off. She follows a path he gave her, going through the forest of Danger and Tribulation, the Furnace of Egypt, the Valley of Loss, and the Precipice of Injury. She even makes it through the Grave on the Mountains.
As she goes on her journey, people from her adoptive family follow her and taunt her, hoping to sabotage her mission. Resentment, Bitterness, Craven Fear, Pride, and Self Pity attempt to drag down her journey and make her turn back to the Valley of Humiliation.
She is purified by all her trials and is able to reach the High Places. At the Place of Anointing, she realizes that her heart has grown bigger. She receives a new name, Grace and Glory, and she realizes how she has transformed through her dedication to the journey. Sorrow and Suffering have become Joy and Peace. She reflects on all that has taken place. The Shepherd brings her to the cliff to look out over the Valley of Humiliation, and Grace and Glory realizes that what she thought was malice in her family is suffering. After careful consideration with the King, she and the Shepherd decide to return to the Valley of Humiliation to bring her good news back to them to free them as well.
The story is an allegory for the journey of a Christian to Christ. Every name in the book is the embodiment of some part of the human condition, both good and bad. Everything that Much-Afraid experiences is directly related to what our spirits go through as we grow up and learn to connect with Christ.
ILLUSTRATION… https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1128612-hinds-feet-on-high-places
Hannah Hurnard, the author says, “There are no obstacles which our Savior’s love cannot overcome. The High Places of victory and union with Christ can be reached by learning to accept, day by day, the actual conditions and tests permitted by God, by laying down of our own will and accepting His. The lessons of accepting and triumphing over evil, of becoming acquainted with grief, and pain, and of finding them transformed into something incomparably precious; these are the lessons of the allegory in this book.”
The reason I bring up this particular book is that the title of the book and some of the metaphor was inspired by a verse in Habakkuk which is in the passage we are going to dig into today. The book was inspired by verse 19 in chapter 3 of the Old Testament Book of Habakkuk.
BACKGROUND OF HABAKKUK (Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, pgs 528-529) (adapted)
The Book of Habakkuk is probably not one of those books that we study often. Habakkuk contains three short chapters. In the first two chapters, we find Habakkuk questioning God and complaining that God will use the Babylonians to discipline the People of Israel. Injustice fills God’s people. Idolatry fills God’s people. As a result, God will send the Babylonians to judge His people. So chapters 1 and 2 we find a back and forth question and answer session between the Almighty God and the lowly prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk understands the holiness of God and the judgment that will come is because of the unrighteousness of Israel. Chapter 3 is a beautiful song of praise to God where Habakkuk stands in awe of God and His mercy even in the midst of the discipline of Israel.
Let’s read from Habakkuk 3:16-19. What we are going to find today is encouragement to be thankful in the midst of hard times. There are days and weeks or maybe even seasons of life that are harder than they need to be and Habakkuk has a word for us on being thankful in the midst of days that we would rather just forget. And in the midst of digging into Habakkuk 3, we will also get some insight from Hannah Hurnard’s allegorical book “Hinds’ Feet on High Places.”
READ Habakkuk 3:16-19
“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. 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, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.”
I. HABAKKUK’S FRAME OF MIND (VERSE 16)
Habakkuk comes to realize through his back and forth conversation with God that the vision of what he has seen of the coming Babylonians and their attack will happen and it is the will of God because of the sinfulness of the people. Habakkuk knows it is coming but does not know when. Habakkuk responds in 4 ways to this devastating news.
His heart is pounding. He is saying that all his emotions are in turmoil. His stomach hurts. His heart is literally pounding. The waiting is giving him anxiety and fear because the Babylonians are ruthless people bent on violence. He is afraid.
His lips are quivering. He knows that his fellow Israelites will be taken into captivity, killed, and the land will be overrun with enemies. They will lose every battle if there even is a battle. Jerusalem will be destroyed. The temple of God will be destroyed! His sadness is overwhelming to the point of grief.
He feels decay in his bones. Habakkuk says rottenness is in his bones. The word that Habakkuk uses here, when he says “decay” or “rottenness” is a word only used 5 times in the whole Bible. In Job, Proverbs, and Hosea where it is used it is likened to being eaten by bugs and is opposite of virtue and life. I think Habakkuk is saying he feels dead inside.
His legs are trembling. We know that Habakkuk is feeling great emotion, but it is not just on the inside. The emotions that are plaguing him are also affecting him physically. All strong emotions affect us physically from happiness to sadness… the whole spectrum. Habakkuk is feeling all of this so strongly that his legs are shaking and I would go so far as to say he is physically ill over what God has revealed to him.
SUMMARY OF HIS FRAME OF MIND
Habakkuk is very afraid.
Habakkuk is sad to the point of grief.
Habakkuk feels dead inside.
Habakkuk is physically ill.
There are some situations that can bring these types of emotions into our lives even today:
Getting fired from a job, the loss of a child, the death of a parent, divorce, hearing the word “cancer” from a doctor, hearing that your loved one was in a car accident but there are no other details, seeing your child in a hospital bed, a bill in the mail you know you can’t pay, enduring physical or emotional abuse, trying to get clean from an addiction, having a car repossessed… the list goes on and on.
ILLUSTRATION… https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1128612-hinds-feet-on-high-places
“Therefore I begin to think, my Lord, you purposely allow us to be brought into contact with the bad and evil things that you want changed. Perhaps that is the very reason that we are here in this world, where sin and sorrow and suffering and evil abound, so that we may let you teach us so to react to them, that out of them we can create lovely qualities to live forever. That is the only really satisfactory way of dealing with evil, not simply binding it so that it cannot work harm, but whenever possible overcoming it with good.”
II. HABAKKUK’S STATE OF BEING (VERSE 17)
After Habakkuk shares about his frame of mind and what is going on with him, he projects about how the land of Israel will be after the Babylonians come. He has seen it. It is real for him even though the events have not yet happened.
“The fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails.” In Habakkuk’s day, fig trees, vines, and harvest that comes from them were signs of prosperity. He knew there would be no prosperity. The olive tree a source of oil which was considered a staple food and that would have also been gone. Prosperity gone. Basic necessities gone.
“The fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls.” The picture of destruction and suffering is complete because there are no crops and no animals.
What might this sound like today?
The economy has collapsed and the stock market has crashed and we are in another Great Depression. Our savings and retirement accounts are all at $0. There is no food, no jobs available, and many businesses have closed. Welfare is even gone and the government helps with nothing. No checks. No freebees. Most people have even lost their homes and live in the woods in tents. Not only that, war came to our shores and we lost badly and are no longer in control of our lives or our laws. There is an occupying force in our tows that takes what we need to live for themselves.
That is the type of situation Habakkuk sees and knows is coming. It is a reality for him.
ILLUSTRATION… https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1128612-hinds-feet-on-high-places
“The Shepherd laughed too. “I love doing preposterous things,” he replied. “Why, I don’t know anything more exhilarating and delightful than turning weakness into strength, and fear into faith, and that which has been marred into perfection. If there is one thing more than mother which I should enjoy doing at this moment it is turning a jellyfish into a mountain goat. That is my special work,” he added with the light of a great joy in his face. “Transforming things —to take Much-Afraid, for instance, and to transform her into—“ He broke off and then went on laughingly. “Well, we shall see later on what she finds herself transformed into.”
FAITH IN THE HARD TIMES
I believe that hard times are a part of life. Hard times come because of 3 reasons. First, sometimes hard times come because we are boneheads and we make decisions we should not and we bring it on ourselves. Second, sometimes hard times come because another person sins against us or does something that causes pain and anguish and we are the ones who get the brunt of it. Third, sometimes hard times come because the world is sinful and life isn’t fair and bad things just happen.
Our response, no matter the reason for the hard time, should be what he says in Habakkuk 2:4: “the righteous will live by faith.” You know how I know that is important? The Apostle Paul says in Romans 1:17: “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” He quotes it again in Galatians 3:11. Then the writer of Hebrews (10:38) says: “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”
ILLUSTRATION… https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1128612-hinds-feet-on-high-places
“In all the world I have no one but you. Help me to follow you, even though it seems impossible. Help me to trust you as much as I long to love you.”
III. HABAKKUK’S FAITH (VERSES 16-19)
The prophet is given a vision of absolute calamity and yet he maintains his faith throughout the ordeal.
He says, “I will wait patiently on the Lord” (verse 16). If Habakkuk had allowed his feelings of fear to overcome him and rule his life, he would not have been able to say this. He saw his whole world would fall apart and yet when he looked at his life and his situation with faith, his fears were put in their place. To walk by faith, means to focus on the greatness and glory of God and to be thankful that God is great and powerful and merciful and good. Habakkuk could wait because he believed that God was at work in the world even though bad things would come. We need to stop, pray, wait on the Lord, before we do something we shouldn’t or fall apart. That is the essence of Psalm 46:10a: “Be still, and know that I am God.”
He says, “I will rejoice in the Lord” (verse 18). Our hope in this life is not empty, but is based on a God who keeps His promises and is always faithful. It is a complete step of faith to praise and rejoice in God when you can see nothing but uncertainty or hardship around you. To thank God in the midst of hard times is an act of faith. This is what the Apostle Paul means in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 when he says, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”
He says, “The Sovereign Lord is my strength” (verse 19). Habakkuk feels weak in his emotions and in his mind and in his body and says that God gives him strength. Strength like a deer to travel up the mountains. Habakkuk is saying that the only way he will make it through the hard times is to pray, lean into his faith, trust in God, and allow God to strengthen him to face the days of hardship. God doesn’t always change our circumstances, but He can change us to meet our circumstances. King David says something similar in Psalm 18:32-33, “It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; He enables me to stand on the heights.”
ILLUSTRATION… https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1128612-hinds-feet-on-high-places
“Whenever you are willing to obey me, Much-Afraid, and to follow the path of my choice, you will always be able to hear and recognize my voice, and when you hear it you must always obey. Remember also that it is always safe to obey my voice, even if it seems to call you to paths which look impossible or even crazy.”
APPLICATION: ELEMENT OF THANKFULNESS
I know I talked a lot about faith during hard times this morning, but I believe that one way our faith works out or is shown when times are hard is through a thankful attitude and expressing thankfulness. Depending on your circumstances, that might be a tall order. Thankfulness shows faith.
We can offer thankfulness to God when we are very afraid. That shows faith.
We can offer thankfulness to God when we are sad to the point of grief. That shows faith.
We can offer thankfulness to God when we feel dead inside. That shows faith.
We can offer thankfulness to God when we are physically ill. That shows faith.
The brief Thanksgiving Season is upon us.
ILLUSTRATION… billygraham.org/answer/does-god-expect-me-to-be-thankful-in-hard-times/ (adapted)
Don’t think of thankfulness as an obligation that God demands of us. Think of it instead as an opportunity God gives us to pause and remember all the good things He has done for us in the past and how He will continue to work in the future.
Does this seem impossible? It probably does. Sometimes all we can think about are the hard times we’ve been through. This isn’t necessarily wrong; those times were real, and so is the anger, grief, doubt, and hurt that may have come from them.
[Lead congregation in repeating phrases and praying in praise.]
God knows what you have been going through and He has never abandoned you. I want you to say that with me: “God has not abandoned me.”
[repeat with congregation getting louder as a praise]
God knows what you have been going through and He loves you. He has helped you and sustained you even when you weren’t aware of it. I want you to say that with me: “God loves me.”
[repeat with congregation getting louder as a praise]
INVITATION
ILLUSTRATION… https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1128612-hinds-feet-on-high-places
“It means there are no obstacles which our Savior’s love cannot overcome, and that to him, mountains of difficulty are as easy as an asphalt road!”
PRAYER
