Session 3: Three Steps to a Firmer Faith - Lisa Hughes

Well, that was a really lovely break. We had so much fun, good discussions. It was great to be able to talk with a few of you. And my big regret is the day's gone by, and I haven't been able to talk to everybody, which that's always disappointing.

That's what heaven is for, where we won't run out of time, and we won't be tired, which is the other good thing, where you can just sit and visit, and you never get tired. I love that. And lunch was fabulous, and music, again, was wonderful.

So thank you, and thank you for being so flexible and letting me change things up on you. I don't know if you're going to. I think you will be encouraged, but you never know. I personally am encouraged from this text.

How about that? So our text is going to be Habakkuk. So you can start finding your way there, and you can go over from Malachi. If you go backwards, it's easier. Find Habakkuk is so little. And I've got my, this is my travel Bible, which belonged to one of our sons.

And it is so precious to me, because it's nice little fits in my suitcase. But it says, this Bible was presented to Mark Hughes on the 18th day of January in the year 2003 by my mom. Is that just totally wonderful?

And so every time I open it, it's like, oh, there he is. And of course, now he's 29.

But there it is.

All right.

Well, when Jack and I were first married, he's a fly fisherman. And he was, at the time, quite avid, a quite avid fly fisherman. And so when we were first married, you know how the Idaho summers, the sun comes up early and stays light until late.

And so my hubby would get up while it was still dark. They would drive to go fishing, or he would go by himself. And then he would tell me, I'll be home at dark 30. Well, you know what dark 30 is like in the summertime.

Sometimes it's 10, 30, or 11 before they get home. And so here I was, this brand new little wifey. And I'm missing my hubby. He's been gone forever. And it's 430 in the afternoon. And I'm waiting for dark 30.

And I would grow increasingly more fidgety and freddy, because in those days, there were no cell phones. You had no idea if they were alive or dead. And I was very good at imagining trouble, which is why so much of everything that I deal with, my default sin is fear.

I'll just tell you right now. So if I'm going to sin, it's going to start from fear. And you go from there. And so I would stand at the window as it started getting dark. And I would imagine that something had happened to him, or he'd stepped on a rattlesnake, or went off the road, fell into the river, all those kinds of things.

And before I knew it, I was imagining life as a widow. And I would live the rest of my days in black, brokenhearted. And I knew that what I was thinking was just in my imagination. But I had no skills, necessarily, in those early years.

I hadn't been trained yet in God's Word to really navigate and to bring my feelings in line with God's Word. And so I was all over the map. And it's kind of funny to laugh about. But there have been other times when trouble has been on the horizon.

And it had nothing to do with my imagination. It was real. And I knew it was real. And yet, even in that moment, we can still even imagine it worse than it really is. There have been times, though, and I'm sure some of you have experienced it, where the worst, even worse than you ever imagined, has come upon you.

And I have lived through that as well. And it's difficult. You know it's going to be difficult. You see it coming. You see that kind of black wave coming towards you. And you know it's going to take everything for you to get through that and that there's no escaping it.

And it's what the Lord allows. It's what He gives us. And we have a choice, though. Again, in those moments, how am I going to respond in this situation? And no matter what our situation, there will be times when we see, or even when we think we see, dark clouds gathering.

And when that time comes, we do have choices that we need to make about how am I going to respond in this situation when fear grips our hearts. And we started the morning talking about there's stuff going on.

Our world is making life hard. There are things that make us fearful out there. But then there's things that make us fearful even from in here. And so what we need to do is discuss in this session how we can respond well when fear grips our hearts, when it's just got a vice on us.

And Habakkuk wrote his little book during a time that was very much like what we see in our world, only his was worse. The circumstances that he was going through were grim. And it was so grim that it made even the stoutest of hearts.

Fearful.

And the Babylonians were on their way toward Israel as what he knew. And the Babylonians were, everyone knew, they were fierce, they were cruel. They had conquered all the lands in between. They had conquered the Syrians, the Egyptians, and they were headed to Israel.

And they were going to demolish everything. And everybody knew that that was what they did. Now, the problem was is, it's one thing if you've got a strong military and you've got a good leader and you're feeling like that things are good, but that wasn't the case in Israel at this time.

Israel was unstable. The King Jehoiakim was a wicked and selfish king, and he had no thought whatsoever of caring for his people. So the people were feeling very defenseless. They weren't feeling protected.

Life was hard, and then it was gonna get worse. And they felt doomed. It was scary for them. And it's within this backdrop that Habakkuk prophesied the Lord's message to the fearful, to the hurting, to the weak and defenseless.

And it's that same message that has the power to minister to us today. God has preserved his words to strengthen and encourage us so that today, in this time, in our world, we can gain a foothold over fear and worry and to grow strong in faith.

The Bible knowledge commentary says that the book of Habakkuk, though the outlook may elicit terror, the uplook elicits trust. I love that. The outlook makes us fearful, but the uplook makes us trust.

And it goes on to say the prophet's complaints and fears were resolved in confidence and faith. This is the heart of the message of Habakkuk. The righteous will live by his faith. Though the outlook may elicit terror, the uplook elicits trust.

And so it's with that in mind that we're going to look at our text. So Habakkuk 3, in verse 16, starting there, we read this, and Habakkuk says, I heard and my inward parts trembled at the sound, my lips quivered, decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us.

Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

The Lord God is my strength and he has made my feet like hinds feet and he makes me walk on my high places. So our first point is facing your fearful future. Now, different Bible translations have different strengths and weaknesses, as you know, and sometimes in certain passages, how a translation team chooses to translate certain words can have a big impact upon our understanding of a passage.

And one of those places is found here in verse 16 where the translators have a difficult time with verse 16 because the Hebrew is somewhat obscure. The New American Standard says in verse 16, I heard and my inward parts trembled and at the sound my lips quivered, decay enters my bones and in my place I tremble because I must wait quietly for the day of distress for the people who will arise who will invade us.

And the way that NASB translates the end of verse 16 puts an emphasis on waiting quietly for the trial that it's on its way, even when you're feeling fearful, which sounds really great. And then we have also these translations, the NIV, the New King James and the ESV all translate verse 16 close is similar, but the emphasis is on waiting quietly for God's justice, his judgment to come upon those who were coming to invade Israel.

The ESV puts it this way, yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. And as I said, the Hebrew is really obscure there and so the translators have had a difficult time making that judgment.

But I think according to the context, the ESV, the New King James and the NIV have the better translation for verse 16. I always teach all the NAS, but verse 16 in the other versions I think works better with the context.

The emphasis with these versions is on the emphasis that God is going to judge the wicked Babylonians and I think that fits better with the rest of the context of the passage, what's been going on and everything that has happened from chapters one, two and three leading into it, better than how the NASB ended up translating it.

It also begins to shift by that translating choice that the ESV, the NIV and the New King James used is that it shifts the focus from complete terror at the thought of the Babylonians invading the Israel to trusting, trusting that God who oversees every single detail will take care of his people in the land, even though their king, the army, they're not necessarily gonna take care of the people.

There's that shift in trust to see that God will do it, yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon the people who will invade us. So all that to say, I think that's a better translation and Habakkuk, what he's doing here in verse 16 is he's trusting that the wickedly cruel Babylonians will face judgment and this is an encouragement for us when we are facing injustice in our world that God, when we know that God sees it, it's super encouraging, isn't it?

When we look at some of the things that are going on and when we see the injustice and we see judgments coming and decisions being made and people being put in jail for things, for things that this is a righteous situation and this person was put in jail or all those kinds of things, we can trust that God sees it when somebody loses their job simply because they were obeying the Lord.

We can trust that God sees it, it's encouraging to us. Now in the book of Habakkuk, what God is also doing, so not only is he gonna judge these wicked Babylonians, but he is also using them as a judgment for Israel because Israel needed a spanking.

Israel had not been faithful to the Lord and so in Habakkuk chapter one in verses five and six, we read this, look among the nations, observe, be astonished, wonder because I am doing something in your days, you would not believe if you were told for behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, that fierce and impetuous people who march through the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs.

So what God is telling Habakkuk so that he can tell the nation of Israel, you need to understand, I am using the Babylonians as my tool, they are my spanky spoon for you, Israel, because you have not obeyed and you need to be brought back in line and so that's what he tells him at the beginning of the book.

Then in verse 12 of chapter one, God explains further his reasons for raising up the Chaldeans, the Babylonians. Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We will not die, you, O Lord, have appointed them to judge and you, O Rock, have established them to correct.

So Habakkuk comes back and just fully affirms God's righteous rule and judgment here and he says we will not die, Lord, when we put our trust in you, but we want to affirm that you have appointed them to judge and the way that you have established them is correct, that you are going to do that to correct us.

Habakkuk knew, even as we're reading just even those couple verses, that trouble was coming and that he was called to tell the nation of Israel that trouble was on its way and he knew that God also fully intended to keep his word to bring that trouble.

Trouble was coming, there was no escape. So Habakkuk, as he is seeing this black cloud of judgment coming, he knows there's no escape and it makes him feel fearful, that's what we see in our text. He knew the Chaldeans were on their way, they were gonna be the unique tools that God had appointed to judge Israel and like I've said, they were Israel's spanky spoon.

Well, when you know a spanking's coming and maybe you've known that, you've experienced God's chastisement in your life and you've seen, I deserve the consequences for my sin in this. Sometimes it's a little scary, it's like Lord, how hard is it gonna be?

That kind of thing and that's where Habakkuk found himself and we, it's similar to us today. Our nation deserves God to do this very thing to us. We have not been faithful to the Lord, he has been so kind to us.

We are not in the same situation, we are not a covenant nation like Israel was but we deserve God's judgment, don't we? We have been as a people, people who have rebelled against the Lord and yet, even knowing that we deserve judgment, I mean, it's still really hard to wait for and to not be afraid.

Habakkuk was dealing with a very real and very fearful future and it was one that would not be averted and it's way worse than anything that we're undergoing at this time. And in chapter two, verse three, it says this, for the vision is yet for the appointed time, it hastens toward the goal and that will not fail.

It, though it tarries, wait for it, it will certainly come, it will not delay. So Habakkuk knew, even though it's not happening yet, he'd received the vision, he knew the prophecy, he knew the promises that God was gonna send judgment to Israel, it was on its way and so there was nothing that was going to change God's mind.

Habakkuk knew the prophecy that God had given him would come true and so it's no wonder that he was feeling fearful. We, sometimes we just get fearful when we think trouble is coming, but to know that this is happening for sure and that you're basically gonna be wiped out as a nation, that's kind of scary.

And yet, for us, when we are faced with fearful things or even things that we think might come to pass, it's encouraging to know that whether our fear is real or it's imagined, the key to overcoming it is still the same.

And that process is given to us in our text. Habakkuk teaches us how to overcome fear by putting our hope and trust in the Lord. The Lord had a purpose in bringing fear, devastation and trials to Israel and Habakkuk tells us it was for the purpose of putting God on display.

In chapter two, verse 14 of Habakkuk, he writes, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. People watching would see and understand that the God of Israel was working with his people, that God was making them holy, that he was being faithful to them, that they could watch and see and tremble as God's righteous judgment works for good in the nation of Israel and against the Babylonians.

It's very similar to our process of church discipline. It's a way to put God on display, to say this sin must be dealt with and we must bring it before the church so that all will know and then the rest of us, what do we do when we see that?

It makes us fearful of sinning. We don't want to do that anymore. We wanna make sure that we are giving God glory. Well, it's very similar. It's the same kind of thing. Habakkuk three in verse two says this.

Habakkuk is praying and he says, Lord, I have heard the report about you and I fear, oh Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make it known and in wrath, remember mercy.

So Habakkuk then, knowing that judgment is coming, he prays, Lord, in the midst of your wrath, have mercy. And isn't that oftentimes what we pray? Lord, I deserve your judgment. I deserve the consequences for this act and yet you have shown me mercy because of Jesus.

I deserve hell but because of Jesus, I'm not receiving that. And so Habakkuk, that's what he's appealing to the Lord for mercy. And it's helpful, I think, to even remember how and why God is dealing with Israel and the way he's doing that.

Oftentimes we kind of forget the situation that Israel was in with the Lord. So as we study and learn from Habakkuk, we need to remember that the Israelites were in a covenant relationship with God. They had entered into this very close relationship with the Lord.

Now, God had reached out to Abraham and he said, I am making you into a great nation. And so God had given a promise to Abraham that he would establish his line, his descendants as a nation. And this is called God's unilateral covenant.

And Israel didn't do anything. Abraham didn't do anything. God just said, Abraham, here's what I'm gonna do. And so that was the beginning of that unilateral relationship that God established. Then when we have Israel, when God rescued them out of Egypt and they wander in the wilderness of Sinai and they're at the mountain and they receive the 10 commandments, they enter into a bilateral relationship with God.

So there's the Israelites said, okay, we will enter into this relationship. And so God said, here's what it's gonna take. And so they were already, so as the way to rethink of these two covenants is the unilateral covenant is God saying, I am bringing you into my family.

You are now my children. And then when they entered into the bilateral relationship at Mount Sinai, then that is when God said, okay, kiddos, this is how we live well in the family. These are the family rules.

And you probably had these conversations with your kiddos. Okay, we're sitting you down. Do y 'all remember these are the family rules and this is how we all live well in the family. Well, that's what God was doing at Mount Sinai with the establishing of the law, the 10 commandments and all the other, the guidance that God give them so that they could live well within the relationship with God.

And then the Israelites, their part, because it's a bilateral one, God said, here's the family rules. And the Israelites said, we'll do the family rules.

Those are great.

We love those family rules. Thanks for taking care of us, God. And so they entered into that relationship. Those two covenants were still at work by Habakkuk's time. So Israel was still living under the unilateral covenant of God.

He was still watching over his nation, but the Israelites had not been faithful to their bilateral promises, to God so that that bilateral covenant between God and Israel had not been kept. He had said, here's the family rules.

And then Israel said, nah, I'm done. They had done the whole, I'm rebelling against that. So that's where we are in Habakkuk with them. And as believers today, we are not under the law. We are not at Sinai.

We are not in the book of Deuteronomy, but we live under the law of grace. And the law of grace propels us into a new relationship with God, which is the relationship of family. Our God is our father.

And when we come to know him as father through the Lord Jesus Christ, when he rescues us from our sin, then our father is faithful to train us and teach us his ways so that we will walk in that relationship of grace.

And what that means is that at times, God will allow things in our lives that are stretching to us, things that make us fearful or anxious. And sometimes there's little spanks, all because children need training.

We need all the parts of training. And it's Hebrews chapter 12. It's where you're living in your sermon series, isn't it? And it's all so that we would grow in grace and so that we will run to the Lord and help, that we will be holy.

And during times of trial and difficulty, it's important to remember some of the truths that Habakkuk knew and that we've talked about already. So when we are in times of trial and difficulty, like when your husband loses the job, or you lose your job, when your little one has a serious disease or a learning disability that just throws you for a loop, when your relationships are strained, when you learn that your family is moving, when your teenager seems to be growing more and more ambivalent toward the Lord and there's more and more rebellion, when your doctor calls you up and says, well, you need to come in for more tests, when one of your coworkers makes up lies about you, any of those times when we have that physical reaction of fear that life is gonna get hard, it's helpful to remember that God has a plan.

He knows what he's doing. God said in chapter one in verses five and six, look among the nations, observe, be astonished, wonder, because I am doing something in your days and you would not believe it if you were told I am raising up the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous people who march through the earth to seize the dwelling places.

I mentioned it before, but it's good to be reminded that God has a plan. And that's what he tells us in chapter one. There can be such comfort for our hearts when everything else fills out of control.

And God says, I have a plan. My husband has said, if God isn't sovereign, then what is the point of living? If God is sovereign, then what is the point of worrying? And when he tells me that, it's like, you're right.

But isn't it wonderful? God has a plan. So number one, it's helpful to remember God has a plan. Number two, it's helpful to remember that whatever God has planned, he is going to bring it to pass. It will happen.

It's going to happen and no amount of fretting, no amount of me trying to change plans, no amount of me doing the little, let's make a deal, God. What about if, none of that's gonna change God's plan.

Isaiah 55, 11, God says, so will my word be which goes forth from my mouth. It will not return to me empty without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

When God determines and he has a plan that he has set in motion before time began, he's not gonna change it. He will bring it to pass. So he has a plan. He's gonna bring his plan to pass. Charles Spurgeon said, remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there.

I mean, I'm sure many of you have seen that quote. It is such a blessing. God is going to do all that he has intended, all that is wisest and good and perfect and holy and right and just and loving and kind.

And all of this is contained in the plans that God intends to bring to pass. And we see it in Habakkuk, but it's true for your life and for mine. And number three, so it's good to remember God has a plan.

He will bring that plan to pass. And it's also helpful to remember every detail that intersects with your life has been purposely ordained by your heavenly father who loves you completely and infinitely and unconditionally.

As we just saw in Habakkuk 1 .12, God corrects his children. Hebrews 12 .6 says, for those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines and he scourges every son whom he receives. It's good to be reminded that the Lord purposely trains his children and he does it not because he's just mean.

Hebrews 12 .6 says he does it because he loves us. And so again, sometimes we have to reorient our thinking and rename the road that we're on. This is God's love me road. This is, he loves me, he loves me.

This discouraging is part of his love for me. He is my best, most faithful, most kind, wise father. Now, number four, not only does he have a plan that he will bring to pass and he purposely ordains it, but number four, every detail that intersects your life has been wisely judged as the very best thing for you.

Hebrews 13 .21 tells us that the God of peace equips us in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever.

Every detail that comes to us has been wisely judged. God has considered everything in his power and might and wisdom, and there is no better way. So whatever you are experiencing in your life is the very best way to produce his likeness in you so that you will walk in holiness and be a blessing to the world and give him glory.

And he will equip you to do everything, every good thing to do his will. He will help you, he will prepare you, he will help you to move wisely through the circumstances in your life. Okay, so our next point, point two, imagining your worst case scenario.

Verse 16 says, I heard in my inward parts trembled and at the sound my lips quivered, decay enters my bones and in my place I tremble while I wait quietly for the day of distress to come upon the people who will invade us, for the Lord to judge those who will invade us.

Verse 17 begins with though. It's the best word ever, isn't it? Verse 17, though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olives should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there is be no cattle in the stalls.

Though tells us that there's more to this thought than what is contained in this verse. This is just the beginning and it's that shifting point. Here's where we are, scary, scary, scary. And then the next verse, though.

Even before we learn what else is coming, we know that there are treasures already here waiting for us. Habakkuk knows in verse 17 that trouble is coming, life is going to change like crazy and not for the better, it's not going to be easy and he realizes the devastation and destruction are on the way and yet in the midst of his fear, Habakkuk responds, though, though the fig tree.

And then he begins to outline worst case scenarios. So he goes to the very worst things and what is that? I mean, well, really it's sustenance. What he's describing is there's not going to be anything, nothing to eat in the land of Israel, that they would die of starvation from famine.

It would be terrible. Though the fig tree doesn't blossom, the yield of the olive, there's no flocks, those things. Though life looks bad, though we may face starvation, though we may suffer tremendous loss, though, but there's a pause there, isn't there?

There's a pause in thought, though what? Come on, tell us what else. It communicates, that one word communicates hope. That one word tells us there's more, there's more to the story and that's what Habakkuk knew because he knew God.

Habakkuk was able to face his fears and imagine the worst case scenarios and he was able to say though because he knew God. David in Psalm 23, verse four says, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

David imagined his worst case scenario and yet he knew God and so that was a comfort to him. David did the same thing in Psalm 27, three. Though a host encamp against me, my heart will not fear. Though war arise against me, in spite of this, I shall be confident.

Maurice Roberts in his wonderful book, The Thought of God, in chapter one said this, the art of good thinking is to carry thought to its logical conclusion. The mere thought of God should end all anxiety.

But he says more because I mean, wouldn't it be terrible if I just left you right there? The mere thought of God should end all anxiety. Oh, that's so lovely. But then he says, then why in my case does it not?

Because I fail to carry thought to its proper conclusion. That's what happens with us. We don't go as far as we need to. We imagine worst case scenario, but we don't carry the thought to the proper conclusion.

In facing our fears, we need to get to survival mode thinking. When faced with the worst case scenario, what things can we still rely upon? We can trust that God is with us in our trial. Hebrews 13, five and six, I mentioned it in I think the last session, where God reminds us and the Lord Jesus is talking about if you're struggling with contentment, but really as if you're struggling with anything, what is his answer?

I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. And with our response, the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me if the Lord is with me? For me, Hebrews 13, five and six has been so powerful in helping me to overcome fear since it's my default sin and it's always popping up all the time.

It has been a huge comfort to be reminded, I'm not by myself. The Lord is gonna help me. And who is helping me? The God of the universe. That's super encouraging to me. So not only do we have, when we're facing the worst case scenario, we can rely on the fact that God is with us in our trial.

He holds us.

John 10, 28 through 29. Jesus says, I give eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand.

You, you can't, if you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, then you can't sin so much that you are gonna fall out of his hand. He will make sure that you deal with your sin and you may face consequences, but no one can snatch you out of the father's hand.

God holds us and he will also hold you in his hands. So no matter what's going on in your life, you can rest there. And we also need to remember that heaven is waiting. Romans 8, 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that awaits us.

You may be living in a time of suffering in this present time, and yet even this suffering right now, it's not worthy to be compared with the glory that waits. Lord, I'm looking for that future time and I'm looking there so that we can be thinking rightly in the midst of our circumstances.

Though leads us to our third point, which is your determination to trust the Lord at verse 18. Though leads to yet, yet I will exult in the Lord. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. Though these terrible things are going to happen, yet I will exult in the Lord.

Yet I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. This is the very same thing that Job said in Job 13, 15. Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him. David said the same thing in Psalm 31, 7. I will rejoice and be glad in your loving kindness because you have seen my affliction.

You have known the troubles of my soul. David is just talking about you've seen my troubles, you've seen my affliction, yet I'm still going to rejoice. And though the translation doesn't have though or yet in it, it's still the same, isn't it?

David experienced those trials, but he chose to trust in the Lord and because he knew God's character. So what do we see here? We see that Habakkuk, David, Job, the rest of the writers in the scriptures, they are communicating each one their choice.

I'm going to choose to trust the Lord over fear in spite of my fear, in spite of what's going on around me. They're choosing faith over their feelings. They're choosing to believe God over the dark whispers of their own unbelief.

You know that really well-known verse that we all will have read many, many a time because it's quoted throughout the Bible, the righteous will live by faith. Well, it's found in Habakkuk. Did you know that that's the first place it was mentioned?

Habakkuk 2 .4, behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him, but the righteous will live by his faith. Second Corinthians 5 .7 says that we walk by faith, not by sight. So living by faith is what believers do.