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. (NIV)
Over
the last few months I have tried to get us to take a hard look at our walk of
faith and I have included the church in that reflection. Last Sunday night two men from the church and
I went down to a home in the Central Davidson area for a time of entertainment,
food, fellowship, and listening to the Word of God proclaimed. As I sat there I looked around at the men who
were there not knowing what they were dealing with in life, but I saw retirees,
businessmen, farmers, teachers, people who worked for manufacturing companies, salesmen
and many other professions represented. I saw husbands, grandfathers, dads, uncles,
sons, and brothers represented. As a
good friend of mine was delivering the message the Holy Spirit laid on my heart
that someone there was going through something major and I needed to lay hands
on him and pray over him. I asked God to
show me who that might be and during my friend’s message he spoke of a man they
had laid hands on that morning at church and prayed over. I knew what I needed to do – as soon as our
fellowship was over I sought out this man and we began to talk. This man was dealing with LIFE! He had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer;
stage 4 cancers have often
metastasized, or spread to other organs or throughout the body. This is as bad as it gets. As
we talked I knew this man’s hope and faith was in Jesus Christ by his attitude
toward the days that lay ahead of him. In
your insert the first point in that line says: Life is… I have purposely left this blank for you to
fill in what you see your life as. Some
may see life as uncertainty, others as hard or difficult, some may see life as
breathtaking, and others as frustrating, some may want to write down that life
is awesome. I know what some of you are
dealing with in your life, but in reality this part of the outline is for you
to think about what life is in your own eyes.
The one thing I know is that life is real! Sometimes like the man I met
last Sunday night life smacks us in the face with something that has to
overwhelm us. That is what has happened
to Habakkuk in today’s Scripture text and I want us to see how he reacted to a
life that had become hard, difficult and frustrating.
The
book of Habakkuk is a conversation with God. Habakkuk is upset because he sees
evil winning and it is frustrating to him and he cries out in prayer to God for
an explanation. As I read this small
book of the minor prophets I could only think how this book reflected what is
going on today in the world in which we live.
It seems that evil is winning, but I stand before you today to say that
God is in control and He showed this to Habakkuk. He said to Habakkuk in chapter 2, 2 Then
the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets
so that whoever reads it may run with it. 3 For the revelation
awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though
it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay." Prior to this Habakkuk had said he would stand
watch for the Lord and then this reply came.
We need to be ready and waiting to receive the message or messages God
wants to give us! This message that came
from God is a message of hope that something is coming and although it may be a
while in coming to fruition, it will come in the proper time – God’s time.
In
life we have some really trying and difficult times. We have financial burdens, health issues, times
of depression and loneliness, times of struggle, and it is easy to focus on the
difficulties in our life. We must fight
this urge because our feelings cannot be controlled by the events around us. When we focus on the giants in our life this
provides the fodder that Satan needs to bring doubt, worry, and discontent into
our life. One thing I have seen more and
more recently is the overwhelming power that Satan is using to try to destroy
our relationship with God. Satan desires
that we allow our feelings of unworthiness, uncertainty, harsh realities, and
guilt to become the focus of our thoughts and beliefs. Sadly it gets to the
point we don’t think we are good enough for God to heal us, fix our financial
burdens, or place people in our lives.
We begin to have a negative, defeatist attitude because of where our
focus is placed. However, I stand before you today and proclaim that we must
have faith in God’s ability to handle what we are dealing with in our
life. Around 2000 prophecies found in
the Bible have been fulfilled; Jesus fulfilled about 351 of them. What I am trying to say is that God does what
He says He will do! Brothers and sisters
we must believe in God’s ability because there is no one greater. Remember the man I spoke about earlier in
today’s message. He was prayed for and
prayed over by men and women of God.
Tuesday night I had an opportunity to spend time in a prayer ministry at
a local church. During this time of
prayer the pastor came in and told us that the man I spoke to you about earlier
had been to the doctor that day and test were run. Miraculously the test showed he was cancer
free! Now you don’t go from stage 4
cancer to cancer free two days later without the intervention of the Lord. As I sat there I listened as this group of
men and women spoke of the miraculous healings that had taken place over the
last 9 years in their church. These
people believe in God’s ability and it shows in the results of His intervention
in the life of the people of this church.
With that said we are told at James 5:14 that if…“any one of you sick; he should call the elders of the
church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.” I stand before you today saying if you would
like the elders to come out and pray with you – we are willing and able, just
contact one of the elders or me and we will set up a time to come out and pray
over you or your loved one.
Now as I said life is
real and there are times in life when life just doesn’t make any sense. When times in your life seem as if nothing
makes sense remember God gives strength.
It is easy in times like these when life is confusing and full of chaos and
we see in the book of Habakkuk that Habakkuk didn’t understand life, but instead
of turning his focus to the difficulties of life he chose to look to God. As I read the Scripture this morning did you
see that things were bleak in the eyes of Habakkuk. The crops were gone – no food to be found;
the sheep and cattle were no more – no meat to sustain them – life was as bad
as you can get; yet, through all of this did you see what Habakkuk said? He said, “I will
rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength.” Here was a man that didn’t know where his
next meal was coming from or what his future held, but in the midst of the
chaos and confusion of his life he chose to rejoice in the Lord, to be joyful
that God was still his Savior in this very difficult time, and even though the
future was unclear he was choosing to put his hope and trust in the Lord that
he knew was still in control of His Creation to be his strength. What a testimony and what an example for us
to follow this morning when we face a life that is difficult. Just like Job when confronted with the loss
of everything said, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has
taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21) Habakkuk was
finding a blessing in the midst of his despair because His eyes were on the
Lord and what the Lord could do in his life and the world in which he
lived. You see Habakkuk understood that God
gives His followers strength and confidence in difficult times. It is so easy to see our own limitations in
contrast to God’s unlimited power and control.
Human nature tells us to look at the negative, to look at the harshness
of life, to look at certain parts of life with pessimism because if God chooses
not to take us out of the midst of the difficulties of life we will not be as
disappointed. We pray the small and weak
prayers because we feel as if our hurt will be less if God chooses not to answer
our prayers in our favor. Yet, we are told in Hebrews 4:16 “… approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we
may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Jesus tells us in John 14:13, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the
Son may bring glory to the Father.”
Brothers and sisters we need to quit falling into the trap Satan sets
that causes us to focus on our own idea of what we can do, you know our limitations,
because when we do we tend to carry that mentality over to how we view God and in
turn we limit what He can do for us and through us because of our lack of faith
and trust in Him.
The final point today
is we need to come to this morning is the realization that God gives us
confidence and hope in a confusing world!
God desires for us to live an intimate life with Him. He wants us to succeed and not fail. At Jeremiah 29 we read, “11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the
LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope
and a future. 12 Then you
will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find
me when you seek me with all your heart.” Now notice God wants us to
prosper and not fail, He wants to give us a hope and a future, but we need to
understand that this can only happen when we call upon Him, come to Him, pray
to Him, and seek Him with all our heart; when we do this we will find Him! I put a number of Scripture texts on the back
of your bulletin which deal with living a life that focuses on faith in God –
look over these passages this week and meditate on them. In the verses I read to you from Habakkuk we
see a man who lived by faith; a man who did not focus on the difficulties of
his life, but understood where his strength came from - GOD; and because he
knew this he chose to find joy in the harshness and difficulty of his
life. If you are struggling this morning
lean on this Scripture and this man Habakkuk’s example of giving God glory and
honor in the deepest valleys we may face in our life – when we do focus our
attention on God we will realize that our walk of faith will be one that is
strengthen by our Lord and Savior and life will be so much better because our
focus will be on Him and not us!
