let us turn to this portion of
scripture that we've read this last chapter in the book of the
Prophet Habakkuk and we are told in the first verse what the content
of the chapter is a prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet upon Shigeonoth I want us simply to consider
something of the content of the prayer. Our theme then is the
prayer of Habakkuk. And you might observe in the
margin what the meaning of this expression upon Shigy�no's means
according to the variable songs or tunes it says. Obviously some
direction with regards to the use of this prayer in the worship
of God. Many of the Psalms, of course,
are addressed to the chief musician. We know that the Psalms were
used in the worship in ancient Israel, be it in the tabernacle
and then subsequently in the temple. And in fact, Psalm 7
bears a similar title to what we have here in verse 1. There
we have the expression Shigayon. Shigayon of David, which he sang
unto the Lord. So this prayer was probably one
also that was sung in the worship of God. And it's interesting
that when we come to the end, we read there in verse 19 to
the chief singer on my stringed instruments and again the margin
here indicates that the hebrew word is neginoth so these strange
words that we have at the beginning at the end of this book or oftentimes
in the title of the Psalms there, all to do with the manner in
which these portions of Scripture were to be used in the singing
of the praises of God. Now, as with so many of the Psalms,
not surprisingly here, also in Habakkuk chapter 3, we have reference
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Is he not the one who is spoken
of here in verse 13? Thou wentest forth for the salvation
of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed. The anointed is the Messiah,
the Christ. And so we can say that this is
a prophecy, in part, a prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. The language is that that pertains
to the Old Testament. It's part of the Old Testament
scriptures, but we do read or have allusions to some of the
great works of God in the salvation of his people. In verse 8, was
the Lord displeased against the rivers? Was thine anger against
the rivers? Was thy wrath against the sea,
that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation? Isn't there some reference to
the way in which God saved the children of Israel at the Red
Sea, that God himself made a way for them to go through the sea
and escape the pursuing armies of Pharaoh. Again, in verse 15,
David walked through the sea with nine horses through the
heap of great waters. God wrought a great salvation
for the children of Israel. We have the song that Moses composed
and sang on that particular occasion recorded there in Exodus chapter
15 and previous to that at the end of chapter 14 of course we
have the historic account of what God did the waters returned
and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the host
of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them there remained
not so much as one of them But the children of Israel walked
upon dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were
a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. Thus
the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians,
and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. And Israel saw that great work
which the Lord did upon the Egyptians, And the people feared the Lord,
and believed the Lord and his servant Moses. And then chapter
15, Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the
Lord. Well, surely here in these verses
8 and 15 there's some reference to that salvation, but that is
a type really of the great salvation that God would accomplishing
the fullness of time by his anointed, even salvation with thine anointed,
as we read here in verse 13. Now, we're going to look at the
chapter in a very general sense, but You want to center upon a
particular portion for a text. I'm thinking of those words at
the end and the middle of verse 16. That I might rest in the
day of trouble. This is the whole point and purpose
of praying that we might rest. We come in our prayers to rest
in God, to cast all our cares upon Him. We come in faith, we come in
the rest of faith. Without faith it's impossible
to please God. He that cometh to him must believe
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of all that diligently seek him.
Only we're not by faith rest in our God then as we come to
pray. First of all though, to consider
how that here Habakkuk makes reference to the voice of the
Lord and the effect of the voice of the Lord. Although he's addressing
his voice in prayer to God, he's very mindful of that great voice
of the Lord God himself. In verse 2, O Lord, I have heard
thy speech, he says, and was afraid. And again at the end
in verse 16, when I heard my belly trembled, my lips quivered
at the voice, rottenness entered into my bones and I trembled
in my self. How God's voice is a mighty voice
and God speaks. And God speaks of course, He
speaks in Holy Scripture but He also speaks in His Providences. He is Sovereign and is in all
things and all that God does does have a voice to us is that
revelation that he has given in his works of creation the
heavens declaring the glory of God the firmament showing his
handiwork day unto day says the psalmist uttereth voice night
unto night showeth knowledge and God's line goes out in all
the world and Here we have reference to the strange dealings of God
in verse 5. Before him went the pestilence,
it says. Before him went the pestilence. Nothing ever comes in this world
by mere chance. But all things are under God's
hand. God is in the heavens, says the
psalmist, he hath done whatsoever he pleased. And of course, he
is speaking today, as we have often acknowledged, even in COVID-19,
and yet there's no recognition, certainly by those in high places,
those in authority. They do not recognize the hand
of God, they do not hear anything of the voice of God, and yet
the Lord's voice crieth unto the city. And Micah says, the
man of wisdom shall see thy name, hear ye the rod. and who hath
appointed it." The man of wisdom, or those who are wise and observe
these things. The psalmist says they understand
the loving kindness of the Lord. But now God comes often times,
even though it be the day of grace. He has a controversy with
the nations and He speaks to the nations Here at the end of
verse 16, when He cometh up unto the people, He will invite them
with His troops. His troops. God has many instruments that
He can make mention of. And we see how in the Old Testament
He would send various plagues upon the people. Think of the
language that we have in another of the prophets, Joel. And Joel
speaks of how God devastated the land with swarms of canker
worm and locust and caterpillars. There in the opening chapter
of that book, verse 4, that which the palm and worm hath left hath
the locust eaten, that which the locust hath left hath the
canker worm eaten. that which the canker-worm hath
left at the caterpillar-eaten." It was a terrible scourge that
came on the land, and this is all God's troops. These insects,
they are part and parcel of God's army, and He speaks of them as
such. There in Joel 2.11, the Lord
shall utter His voice before His army, and His camp is very
strong. For the day of the Lord is great
and very terrible, and who can abide it? Or God will invade. And that's what we read up here
at the end of verse 16. He will invade them, it says,
with his troops. And how Job felt something of
trials and feeling those great trials that came upon him, he
speaks of them as God's troops, as if a multitude of troubles
came, and they came one on the back of the other, and he feels
it all so personally, and he cries out. There in Job 19, 12,
his troops come together, and raise up their way against me,
and then camp round about my tabernacle. What is his tabernacle? while we that are in this tabernacle
do groan being burdened, says the apostle to the Corinthians.
The tabernacle of our body, anything that comes upon us, all things,
whatever befalls us, all of these things are under God's hands.
And what is God doing? He measures us by His ways, by
His dealings, He measures us by His work, He is ever measuring
the earth and we have mention of that in verse 6 he stood it
says and measured the earth he beheld and drove asunder the
nations God measures us in by his providences but also that
God does it in other ways He does it sometimes when he sends
terrible judgments again. We can look at the language of
another prophet, there in Zechariah chapter 2. The prophet says, I lifted up
mine eyes again, and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring
line in his hand. Then said I, Whither goest thou?
And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the
breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof. What is this,
the man with the measuring line in his hand? Is it not a reference
to God measuring Jerusalem, measuring his people as it were, with his
words? With his words. Ultimately God speaks by his
words. Yes, we have to recognize that
God is sovereign in all his ways, in all his providences, but It's
God's Word that really tries us and searches us. And see how
the Word is spoken of here in this prayer. In verse 9, thy
bow was made quite naked, according to the oath of the tribes, even
thy word, it says. Selah. Even thy word. And then again, At the end of verse 11 we read,
At the light of thine arrows they went at the shining of thy
glittering spear, God's words, like unto arrows, like a spear,
like a sword. And again, Job is brought to
acknowledge something of these things. There in Job 6 he says,
For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof
drinketh up my spirit, the terrors of God do set themselves in array
against me." All God's arrows, how they strike into the hearts
of men, how God comes with his convicting arrows. And we see
it under the ministry of the Apostles, even there on the day
of Pentecost. That glorious outpouring of the
Holy Spirit is coming in state on that great and the preaching
of the apostles, Peter in particular. And we're told, when they heard
this, they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and
the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Oh, the arrows of God. those arrows being spoken of
here then in this 11th verse, and the shining of God's glittering
spear. This is the imagery that is taken
up then here in the Scriptures concerning God. We have to observe
what is the consequence, what are the results, when Christ
is pleased to come by His Spirit and to come here in His Word. well look at what we are told
at the end of verse 16 there's an alternative reading in the
margin when he cometh up unto the people it says he will invade
them with his troops the margin says he will cut them in pieces
he will cut them in pieces with his troops oh the great God then he comes
to do a strange work to bring his people to a realization of
what they are, to bring them under real conviction for their
sins. We're all by nature so unaware
of what we are before the Holy God, dead in trespasses and sins,
but when the Lord comes and awakens, is there not something of that
conviction of sin and that's what we see at the beginning
Oh Lord I have heard thy speech and was afraid God's Word has
that initial effect does it not? it makes us to tremble and so
again here at verse 16 when I heard my belly trembled my lips quivered
at the voice rottenness entered into my bones and I trembled
in myself What is the man speaking of? He's speaking of how he realizes
what he is as a sinner before the Holy One of Israel. And there's that strange reaction
of Simon Peter when he witnesses the Lord's great miracle in the
multitude of the fishes there at the beginning of Luke chapter
5. as they had been laboring, laboring
at their occupation. They were experienced fishermen,
they'd caught nothing, and the Lord appears. And when they take
heed of His direction, they manage to catch a great multitude of
fish, and the vessel begins to sink under the awful load. And
we're told there in Luke 5.8, when Simon Peter saw it, He fell
down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful
man of war. Oh, how the sinner is made to
tremble before the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the same also
in the experience of Job, when all God's troops came together,
when they encamped round about his tabernacle, when the Lord
was dealing with him in those strange, mysterious ways that
his friends could not understand. They were such poor comforters.
When we come to the end of the book, what does Job say? I have
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye
seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself and
repent in dust and ashes. The voice of the Lord. It humbles
the sinner to the very dust. But then ultimately, there is
this rest in the Lord that's spoken of here in this 16th verse,
that I might rest in the day of trouble," says Habakkuk. And
it's interesting, because Dr. Gill makes the observation that
this word, that, as the force of yet, or notwithstanding, notwithstanding, I might rest
in the day of trouble. There is rest for the sinner
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the rest. He is the rest. Come unto me all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you,
learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall
find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light, says the Lord, the gracious invitation of the gospel. or when the Lord comes in to
deal with his people, to convince them of their sins, to cause
them to tremble at his words. He has a gracious end in view. It's in order to effect in them
a real cure, even to bring them to himself. Or he wounds in order
that he might heal. What does He say? Deuteronomy
32, 39, See now that I, even I, am He. And there is no God
with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound
and I heal. Neither can any deliver out of
my hand. Or when we're in the hand of
God, He might on occasions kill us, but only killing us to make
us alive. He might wound us, but He wounds
us in order that He might heal us. He has that good and that
gracious end in view. He doesn't intend our complete
and our utter destruction. He wants to bring us to the end
of ourselves, that we might rest altogether in Himself. As Moses
says in his prayers, Psalm 90, Thou turnest man to destruction.
Yes, God turns man to destruction. He destroys all his self-confidence. But then what does God do? He
says, return. O return ye children of men. They are made to turn to Him.
It's when we are brought to that, to feel something of the barrenness
of our souls, the barrenness of our sins. when these things
are really felt in us, do they not lead to that true faith? And that's what we have at the
end of the chapter, this lovely concluding
paragraph. Although the fig tree shall not
blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labour of
the olive shall fail, the field shall yield no meat, the flock
shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in
the stores. Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the
God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength,
and He will make my feet like hind feet, and He will make me
to walk upon my high places. The chief singer on my stringed
instrument. Here is the prophet there. Everything has failed. Everything
has failed. but he knows that God never fails. Oh, what a word is that yet at
the beginning of verse 18. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation. When all nature around us fails,
the Lord is my strength. This is what God is determined
to bring his people to. And this spiritual work that
God does in the souls of his people is a work that needs to
be revived time and time again. How does he pray here at the
beginning? Oh Lord, he says, revive thy work in the midst
of the years, in the midst of the years make known in wrath
remember mercy Our God's people must live by faith. That's what
we come to really at the end of this chapter. It's the life
of faith. That I might rest in the day
of trouble. It's that rest of faith. It's
that resting only in the Lord God. Of course it's in this little
book of Habakkuk that we have that remarkable statement of
Scripture for the very first time. in chapter 2 and the end
of verse 4, "...the just shall live by his faith." "...all the
just shall live by his faith." That was the word that meant
so much to Martin Luther when he was struggling so much with
his sins and could not see any way of salvation and he discovered
the great truth of justification by faith as the Lord opened his
eyes. Those words, of course, are repeated
three times in the New Testament. We have those words in Galatians
chapter 3. Then in Galatians chapter 3 they're
quoted in connection with the Lord of Gods. Galatians 3.10 As many as are of the works of
the Lord are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall
live by faith." Or there's no salvation in the
law, that's what Paul is saying. All the law is is a ministration
of condemnation and of death. No man is justified by the law
in the sight of God. The just shall live by faith.
But then Paul quotes the same passage from Habakkuk 2 when
he writes to the church at Rome there in the opening chapter
of the epistle to the Romans Verse 16, I am not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the
Greek for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith as it is written the just shall live by faith and here
he is quoting the same passage but now more particularly in
association with the gospel as against that reference to that
passage in connection to the law in Galatians chapter 3 and
then the third time he quotes it, it's in Hebrews at the end
of chapter 10. Verse 38, now the just shall
live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him, but we are not of them who
draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving
of the soul. And then, of course, we go on
into chapter 11, that great chapter on the life of faith. The just lives his whole life
by faith. There is but one faith it has
been observed. the different holy lies in the
objects that fight is ever the same fight having to do with
God however God reveals himself, however God deals with us it's
the same siding fight how should a man be just with God is the
question that's put there in Job 9.2 how should a man be just
with God Well, what is justifying faith?
It is that faith that centers in Christ. It's that faith that
is resting, resting in the Lord Jesus Christ, that I might rest
in the day of trouble as we have it here in this 16th verse. It's justifying faith. It's the
faith that was preached by the apostles. We find Paul preaching
it in no uncertain terms. There in Acts 13, the record
of his sermon that was preached at Antioch in Pisidia. What does
he say? By him that is by the Lord Jesus.
By him all that believe are justified from all things that they could
not be justified from by the deeds of the law. All known flesh
can be justified by the deeds of the law. There is only justification
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so though sinful in self
there is righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that's
the justified sinner. He's a sinner, yes, but he's
a justified sinner. The just shall live by his faith. And so we have it here at the
end of the prayer, that I might rest in the day of trouble. The point, the purpose of our
praying is it not this, that we might come to that blessed
rest, that trusting in Christ, that believing. For without faith
it's impossible to please God. He that cometh to him must believe
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of all that diligently seeketh.
Oh the Lord help us then, as we come before Him tonight to
pray in faith to be those who are in our praying ever looking
unto Him who is the only mediator between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus. Well, before we come again with
our prayers and supplications, let us sing our second praise. It's the hymn 194. and the tune is Spur 240. Hail mighty Jesus, how divine
is thy victorious sword. The stoutest rebel must resign
at thy commanding word. Deep are the wounds thy arrows
give, they pierce the hardest heart. Thy smiles of grace the
slain revive, and joy succeeds to smart. In 194