Let us have another word of prayer.
Lord, we do thank You for all of Your precious and magnificent promises. Lord, we are thankful for the promise that was brought to our hearts in a living way this morning: that You never leave us or forsake us.
And Lord, as we continue in Thy presence and come to Your Word, we are thankful that we come in a place of dependence upon You, upon Thy very Holy Spirit, knowing that You are with us and that You never leave us or forsake us.
Lord, this day by faith, we want to lay hold of that precious promise: that, for us, as we consider Your Word, it would go beyond what is written on a piece of paper and truly be words of life that are drawing our hearts unto You.
Lord, in these last days that we are living in, how we need to be a people set apart unto You. We need to be prepared, Lord. We need to have ears to hear.
So we bring our whole being. We bring our ears, and we bring our tongue under the government of the Holy Spirit, that You could have Your way during this time. In Jesus’ name, amen.
I would like for us to turn this morning again to 2 Corinthians 11.
We see in this chapter Paul’s great jealousy for those ones with whom he was so close, the ones who were dear to his heart. As he speaks to Corinth, these words have been recorded to be very real and living to us as we live in these days.
For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy: for I betrothed you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
But I am afraid, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.—2 Corinthians 11:2-3
As Paul looks to these dear ones in Corinth, and as the Lord looks to us today, He realizes one of the battles that has been going on through the ages: that we would be led away from a place of simple devotion, a place of a pure heart simply set upon our Lord.
This is what He desired of Eve because He had a purpose for her. This is what He desires of us, as He continues to work within that purpose.
It is wonderful what Paul is jealous for. He is not jealous that they merely know about the Lord. He is not jealous that they know His teaching, even though both of those are very important. But he is jealous that they would be in a place of simplicity and purity of devotion to Him.
Now, this simplicity of which he speaks is not that of someone who is simple-minded. We look back in history at ones such as the Mennonites, and oftentimes they are called simple people because outwardly they dress simply and have simple ways.
The Lord is not looking for an outward characteristic. He is looking for a simple heart—a heart in simplicity devoted to Christ, where there is nothing else there. There is a heart that has been captured by Him, and there is a heart willing to do whatever our beloved Master says.
Praise God, when our Lord finds those ones, He is able to work.
As we have been considering how we can be encouraged in these last days, we realize that this battle is great. The days are becoming more and more evil, and outwardly it seems that we, as God’s people, are becoming weaker and weaker. Generally, we are in a place of declension and departure.
But the Lord continues to call us to return to Him—to this place of simplicity and purity of devotion to Him.
In the past, we have looked at the history of the nation of Israel after the time of David and Judah. We were looking at that because we know that Israel is a picture of the church, and we were drawing encouraging lessons from that history.
The theme verse that we have used every time we have looked at this has come from 2 Chronicles 16. This verse rang true then, will ring true through the end of the age, and is very present for the days in which we are living.
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.
—2 Chronicles 16:9
He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His—whose heart is simply and purely His. Again, not devoted to the things of Him, but to Him: looking at the very person of our Lord Jesus and being captured by that.
When the Lord found one, we are thankful for how He could move so mightily to bring about various recoveries and revivings. He used both kings and prophets.
Last week and this week, we are looking at the prophet Habakkuk. We are thankful that Habakkuk was one who had a heart for God’s purpose in a time of declension and departure.
Outwardly, it looked as though nothing was going well at all during the time of Habakkuk. The people of Israel had some outward formality, but their hearts were far away from the Lord. They were not really pursuing Him with that simplicity; they had fallen into a place of corruption.
But as we look at Habakkuk, we are not simply learning history. The primary thing is that we learn the lessons, as the Lord desires to prepare us and awaken us for His second coming.
We outlined Habakkuk in a general way according to its three chapters:
Last week, we looked at the anxiety of faith and began considering the assurance of faith.
In the first chapter, Habakkuk finds himself in a place of great anxiety. He knows who the Lord is, but he does not understand His ways. He sees evil prevailing, and it seems as though God is doing nothing.
As he dialogues with the Lord, the Lord says, because of the condition of God’s people, “I am going to use a people more evil than you. I am going to use the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, to chastise you, instruct you, and discipline you.”
This really caught Habakkuk off guard. He said, “How can a holy God do this?” Yet throughout Scripture, we see that at times God uses the enemy to bring discipline and training upon His people.
We have mentioned how Lance has said that the enemy is one of God’s servants. Think about Babylon and that famous king, Nebuchadnezzar. In Jeremiah, he is actually referred to by the Lord as “My servant.”
We are thankful that the Lord is on the throne, that He is ruling and has dominion.
As we look at Habakkuk, it is a heavy lesson in many ways. We see a jealous God. The Lord loves His people so much that, when they are going another way—when they are captured by worldliness, pride, idols, and other distractions—He loves them too much to allow them to continue in that way.
He wants to bring us back to that place of purity, simplicity, and devotion to Him. He wants to bring us back to first love. At times, He uses the enemy to do things that seem strange to us.
When God moves, we often have a set way in our minds of thinking, “This is the way God works.” But if God works in another way, have we entered into that personal, intimate relationship with Him to really know Him?
Do we know His presence? As we behold Him, can we recognize, “This is the Lord”?
We touched last week on this issue: in a weakened condition, what really weakens the testimony? Throughout the Scriptures, we find that corruption within does far more damage than persecution from without.
When we speak of corruption, we are speaking of mixture. It is adding something to the simplicity that has robbed the Lord of His glory among His people.
This is what occurred in the nation of Israel. They were led away from that place of simplicity and purity, and they were led into captivity because of the corruption within. How we need to be aware of that in the days in which we are living.
Because Habakkuk does not fully understand what is going on, as we come to Habakkuk 2, we see that he gets himself apart into a quiet place. He gets himself into a place of inner preparation, where there can be spiritual exercise with the Lord.
This is a wonderful testimony of Habakkuk’s relationship with the Lord, because nothing reveals our character more than the way we act during a time of crisis.
We can look very godly when everything is going smoothly. But in times of crisis, our conduct is revealed, and our attitude comes forth.
We thank the Lord that Habakkuk had faith in the Lord, and he came into that place of peace and rest.
As we look at Habakkuk, we see God’s answer to all of his questions. He gives an answer that is the turning point of the book of Habakkuk. It has been a turning verse throughout history, and it has been a turning verse within each of our lives: Habakkuk 2:4.
Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him;
but the righteous shall live by his faith.—Habakkuk 2:4
What the Lord is crying out to Habakkuk in this hour is, “Habakkuk, what needs to be revived among your people is faith.”
We need to return to that place of having our eyes upon the Lord, because this is the very foundation of our entire Christian life. Faith looks above the circumstances of life and sees Him. Faith looks beyond what we might intuitively think and sees what God is doing.
“The righteous shall live by faith” is the foundation of our Christian life. But it is more than that: it is the bread of life for us every day. This truth stays with us from the first day we are saved throughout every day of our lives, until the Lord comes.
The righteous shall live by faith.
Too many of our problems come because we gain a few years of experience and begin adding to the simplicity of faith. We bring in doctrines, certain teachings, and certain experiences. We get away from the simple life that the Lord has called us to live each day by faith in Him.
That life is by knowing Him and coming into a personal relationship with Him.
Brothers and sisters, for many of us living in this intellectual and digital age, the simplicity of this testimony—“the righteous shall live by faith”—is hard to swallow.
We are challenged by the spirit of humanism, which insists that there has to be more. There must be something complex. The spirit of humanism, the spirit of this world, says, “Oh, we cannot accept this simple thing: you live by faith. What is faith? What is living?”
They get into all the debates, while we say, “I do not know, but I was blind and now I see.” That is the testimony of my life.
When we get away from that, we get away from the place of simplicity and enter into the debating of this age. Would the Lord bring us back to that place of having our eyes upon Him? When He goes this way, we may not know what is before us, but we know Him, and we follow Him step by step.
This is what Habakkuk is doing. This is the spiritual exercise through which he is going. He does not know what is going on, but his eyes are on the King, and he continues to follow Him, allowing the Lord to reveal more and more to him.
After the Lord testifies that the righteous shall live by faith, He pronounces five woes. We do not like when woes are pronounced upon us, but He pronounces five woes upon those who are puffed up—the Chaldeans—and reveals what the Babylonians are going to suffer.
It might look as though they are prevailing, but the Lord says, “I am on the throne, and they will be judged.”
These five woes are applied to the Babylonians in the book, but we can apply them spiritually to our own lives. They reveal the contrast between the Spirit and the flesh.
As the Lord calls us to walk by faith, the greatest challenge to that walk is our own self-life, our own flesh. These five woes were prevalent among the Babylonians, but they are also very real in our lives today.
They are found in Habakkuk 2:6-19:
It is very interesting to consider these five things alongside Paul’s last letter, 2 Timothy.
Turn to 2 Timothy 3:1-5. Paul is trying to encourage and prepare people for the difficult days ahead.
But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, revilers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good,
traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God;
holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof. From these also turn away.—2 Timothy 3:1-5
Keep these things in mind as we look back at the five woes: ambition, covetousness, violence, evil, and idolatry. You see that they are still there, because flesh is flesh. We have to wrestle with these things.
Paul speaks of lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful and arrogant people. There is ambition and self-love. He speaks of those who are unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
Does that not describe the Babylonians of whom Habakkuk was speaking? We see the same fleshly nature that they battled then, and we still face that battle today.
But praise God, how do we overcome? The righteous shall live by faith.
Paul concludes with what may be the most heinous thing of all: holding to a form of godliness while denying its power.
Holding to a form of godliness is putting up a façade that you are really serious for the Lord, while inwardly there is a heart going another way. In Habakkuk, this was referred to as idolatry.
When we think of idolatry, we often do not think of it in modern terms. Particularly in this country, we say that we do not have many idols sitting around. But the idolatry of which we are speaking is not merely physical idolatry.
It is anything that takes the place of the Lord. It could be education, jobs, prominence, sports, or anything else. Anything can become an idol if it takes the place of the Lord.
But the worst type of idolatry is religious idolatry, because that is what comes in and corrupts the Christian life. Tragically, that spirit of idolatry has corrupted so much of Christianity today.
I was reading Brother Sparks, and he was speaking about idolatry. He said that it is a challenge particularly for those who have some years and experience with the Lord, because we can fall into this trap.
He writes, “It is possible to have the things of the Lord in the place of the Lord.” The things of the Lord in the place of the Lord—that is idolatry.
It can be a teaching, an event, or an experience. Somehow, His things have been given precedence over Him. Anything that becomes an object in and of itself and robs the Lord of His glory has become an idol.
As we looked at the kings, remember during the reign of Hezekiah how one of the idols in Israel was the bronze serpent that Moses had used. When God was judging His people because of their murmuring, He told Moses to make the bronze serpent and lift it up, so that those who had been bitten and looked upon it would be saved.
We do not hear anything more of that until the days of Hezekiah. The people of God had turned something that was used by God into an idol. We need to be aware that we can do the same thing.
We have a conference before us. Is a conference an idol? Are we honest enough to let the Lord search us and say, “Lord, is this becoming an idol? Is it robbing You of Your glory? Is it us, or is it You?”
Is this assembly an idol? Is our service an idol? One of the areas in which I love serving is with books in the bookstore. I have to let the Holy Spirit search my heart: “Lord, are books and the bookstore an idol to me? Is my service to You more for me, that I get glory, or is it for You?”
There is so much idolatry among God’s people today that the Holy Spirit desires to come in and shatter it, so that we could be free to really serve Him and know Him in this day. Outwardly, these things can look so good, but they have subtly taken His place.
Brother Sparks said that there are certain symptoms and characteristics that reveal when things are idols. He said that he experienced this in his own life.
You are speaking with someone, and you touch something. You make a suggestion, recommendation, adjustment, correction, or even a comment. Suddenly there is an uprising. There is a reaction and a viciousness that comes forth defending what the person is doing.
It is an abnormal defense. There is no humbling of oneself. Moses gives us a beautiful picture: when he was challenged, he humbled himself before the Lord.
But when an idol is there, we defend that idol. We react. We close ourselves, because that thing has become the very end and object in itself. The Lord is no longer the end; that thing has robbed God of His glory.
As I have been looking to the Lord, I really want Him to search my heart. I am not going to be naive enough to think that I do not have idols. Who am I to think that I am free of them?
I cannot consciously say that I know of one, but I would not unconsciously say that I do not have any. Praise God, this is the wonderful thing about walking by faith and giving ourselves to the Lord.
As we give ourselves to Him, He touches things in our lives. He says, “Do you realize this part of your life is robbing Me of My glory? Are you willing to lay this down? Are you willing to let it go and let Me have the glory there?”
Brothers and sisters, this is spiritual exercise. This is what the Lord is after in this day.
When we talk about preparation for the coming of the Lord, He is looking for that pure, chaste virgin—for purity. It is a shame how we have allowed so much impurity and corruption to come in.
But praise God, He is jealous. He loves us too much to let us stay as we are. He brings things into our lives that will expose these things, if we allow Him and cooperate with Him.
Brothers and sisters, in the days in which we are living—and really throughout all days—there are only two kingdoms: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the enemy. There is no neutral little kingdom.
The question is: Which kingdom are we building? Are we building the kingdom of God, or are we building the kingdom of the enemy? There is light, and there is darkness.
We can rationalize and confuse ourselves by saying, “Well, I might not be serving the Lord, but I am not serving the enemy either. I am doing my own thing.” But if we are doing our own thing, we are serving over here.
We need to be aware that we are in a building process. Which kingdom are we building? Which one are we pursuing? Which one are we desiring to receive the glory?
When Habakkuk went to the watchtower, he did not see the whole picture. He could not see and did not understand everything that was happening, but he waited upon the Lord. The Lord spoke to him.
Brothers and sisters, we do not see everything either, but we can see Him. He encourages us to continue keeping our eyes upon Him.
I appreciate the verse in 1 Corinthians 13 where Paul says that we know in part. We thank the Lord that, as we go on, we see a little more. But sometimes we look upon a situation and think, “I see it all.”
How do you ever know that you see it all? Only when you see the final product finished can you know that you see the whole.
If someone walks halfway around a house and says, “I walked around the house,” how do they know? They have to walk all the way around. Until we see Him, that is when we see in fullness.
I thank the Lord for what He has shown us. We thank the Lord for the service and that He has shown us something of His heart and purpose. But have we fully seen it all? There is a danger in thinking that we have.
We can pray like that Pharisee in the temple: “Lord, I thank You that I see the heavenly vision. Lord, help others to see.” But wait a minute. Are we assuming that we see the complete vision and purpose of God?
I say we see in part. We see what He has shown us, but we know there is much more. As we walk by faith and not by sight, He will take us through these days.
There is an immensity of the Lord that He wants us to enter into. Amy Carmichael had a little phrase: “We only see the edges of His ways.”
There is an immensity to Christ, to His heart, and to His purpose. It is far beyond what we have seen.
Do not take this to mean that I am not thankful for what we have seen, or what each of us individually has seen. We are all at various stages in this, but none of us has seen it all.
We continue pressing on to Him. When we fall into idolatry, a blindness can enter in, and we do not realize that there is so much more of the immensity of Christ that He wants us to see.
The Lord is so good that, when we touch Him in a new way, we may say, “We were so blessed. It is so good. Wow, I have got it now.” Yes, we have a part of Him now, but there is still much more.
There is so much more. Faber wrote of “the wideness of God’s mercy,” and it is true: how vast is the Father’s love for us. These hymn writers sensed that there was something more into which to enter.
They were not content to say, “I have seen God’s mercy. I know it now. I have seen the Father’s love. I know it now.” Praise God, we have seen and experienced some of it, but there is an immensity of Christ that He wants us to enter into even more.
As we remain in that place of simplicity, simply walking by faith, we can enter into more and more of all that He desires and all that He is after.
This is the great walk of faith—not by sight, but walking by faith. Faith in the Lord that He will accomplish His purpose.
Faith in Him when outwardly it seems as though things are getting worse and worse. In spiritual reality, God is doing a great work.
That is the encouragement in the book of Nehemiah. They were building a little wall, and the enemy tried to distract Nehemiah. What was Nehemiah’s answer? “Oh no, I am not coming down. We are doing a great work.”
Nehemiah saw beyond the stones. He saw that there was something more—a spiritual reality that God was working toward.
Brothers and sisters, regardless of what we might see outwardly today, we know within our hearts that God will accomplish His purpose. He will accomplish His purpose for Israel. He will accomplish His purpose for the church.
His promise, “I will build My church,” will be fulfilled. A bride without spot or wrinkle will be prepared. We have no way of figuring out how that is going to occur. It seems utterly impossible when we look at our own lives, but He is going to do it.
All He asks us to do is walk by faith in Him, keeping our eyes upon Him. When He leads us this way in life, we follow Him into a fuller and greater way.
The Lord brings a great word of assurance and comfort to Habakkuk, and it is a great word to us in days of shaking.
But the Lord is in His holy temple:
let all the earth keep silence before Him.—Habakkuk 2:20
Regardless of what you see, regardless of what you are experiencing, and regardless of what you feel, the Lord is in His holy temple. He is on the throne.
In a polite way, He says, “Just shut up, everybody. Cut out your murmurings. Cut out all your questions. Just be quiet.” Come to that place of reality, knowing that He is on the throne.
Praise God, Habakkuk came to that place.
As we come to Habakkuk 3, out of that place of quietness comes a marvelous prayer. This whole chapter, the ascendancy of faith, is prayer and worship to the One on the throne.
Habakkuk has come through to this place. Yes, he sees the weakened condition of God’s people, and he prays. As we see the weakened condition of God’s people today, what is our reaction? Would it be that we would be on our knees in prayer?
One of the greatest ministries in recovery is travailing prayer. It is not merely petitioning God, though those prayers are necessary. Travailing prayer is entering into the prayers that are upon God’s heart for His people and for the hour in which we are living.
It is prayer that costs something. There is agonizing. There is knowing what the will of God is but, at that moment, not seeing it fulfilled upon the earth, and agonizing in prayer: “God, bring Your will upon Your people.”
“Lord, we do not see how Your church is being built. We see Your people disintegrating. God, bring about a recovery. Bring about a reviving.”
This is how Habakkuk prays in Habakkuk 3:2:
O Lord, I have heard the report of Thee, and am afraid:
O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years;
in the midst of the years make it known;
in wrath remember mercy.—Habakkuk 3:2
He has this cry and prayer for reviving. Reviving literally means to live—to have life. Something at that point in time is not living as it was originally purposed, and it needs to be revived again, brought to life according to the original purpose.
This is what God is jealous for in this hour. He is not seeing the life of His Son manifested in the way He desires among His people, and He is jealous that this reviving would come about.
He is jealous that we would be those people who really enter into travailing prayers for His will to be done upon this earth.
It may appear to us in the hour in which we are living that God has stopped working, or slowed down. But again, let us be encouraged by Nehemiah, because as Nehemiah made that testimony, others were encouraged also.
As we look through Scripture, it may appear that God stops working outwardly for two reasons: the unfaithfulness of man delays His work, and the resistance of the enemy opposes it. We know that from the book of Daniel.
But God, in His infinite wisdom—which we will discover one day—has chosen to work through man. Why He did that is like, “Wow,” but He has.
He will receive more glory, rather than simply creating us as robots, because He gave us free will. He has chosen to work through man.
Because of that recovery at Calvary, we see the glorious victory that He has brought in. That is why we celebrate the table every Sunday: to remember Him and the great victory that we have.
God has chosen to work through man—not man alone, but Christ and man. Christ’s life is displayed through His people.
Praise God, when man is faithful and responds, God can move mightily, as we read in 2 Chronicles 16. When man is faithful, the enemy is still trying, but he has very little impact.
The enemy may be out there beating around, but when man is faithful and in line with God’s heart, the enemy has very little impact.
Tragically, when man is unfaithful, it does delay God and allow the enemy to have more of an impact. But even when man is unfaithful, God is still faithful. He is the One who continues pressing on.
What is He faithful about? What is the real burden of Habakkuk’s prayer? “Revive Thy work in the midst of years.”
Our God is always working. Habakkuk is praying for the reviving of Thy work. Ever since the fall, after Adam and Eve fell, God has been working to bring about a recovery and restoration of His purpose.
Our Lord said in the Gospel of John, “My Father worketh even until now.” There is a continual working of the Lord.
We often tweak this verse a little and pray, “Lord, revive us in the midst of years. Lord, revive the assembly in the midst of years.” But what is the prayer here? “Lord, revive Thy work.”
“Revive Thy work in the midst of years.” Praise God, because it is much bigger than us. When we are praying about reviving His work, it is about His work, His heart, His purpose, His desire—all that is upon Him. It is not just about us.
When His work is revived, yes, we are revived. We need that. When His work is revived, the assembly and His testimony are revived. It is only when God’s work is revived that all these other true revivings can come in.
Habakkuk’s prayer is not primarily for the nation of Israel or simply for the people there with him at that time. His eyes have now turned to the Lord: “Lord, we want Your work to be revived.”
As we go into a conference, what are we looking for? We are looking for the Lord’s work. “Lord, You speak. You do what You desire. Let Thy work be revived.”
This is the prayer for these days. It is getting our eyes off ourselves and our great needs. That does not mean we never pray for our needs; we do. But there is a prayer that must override that and keep our needs in perspective.
“Lord, all of this comes under the umbrella of Thy work being revived.”
In the midst of the years, we have some experience. In the midst of the years, there is a tendency to become lukewarm. There is a tendency, as in Laodicea, to fall back. There is a tendency, as in Ephesus, to lose first love.
But praise God, as we continue to seek Him and return to that place of simplicity, walking by faith, He can do that wonderful work of reviving.
Toward the end of Habakkuk 3, in Habakkuk 3:16, we see a wonderful testimony. It is encouraging because we see Habakkuk’s humanity, honesty, fear, and faith. He lays himself out transparently and says, “This is who I am, but my eyes are upon You.”
After the Lord has told him that He is going to use the Chaldeans to come in and judge Israel, Habakkuk says:
I heard, and my belly trembled,
my lips quivered at the voice;
rottenness entereth into my bones, and I tremble in my place;
because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble,
for the coming up of the people that invadeth us.—Habakkuk 3:16
He heard Him. It was not a pleasant message; it got him. When you truly hear, there is a response and a reaction within. There is trembling before the very Word of God.
He knows that God is going to accomplish His purpose. He comes honestly and says, “Lord, I am in fear and trembling, but I am going to wait in a place of quietness and rest before You, for You to accomplish Your purpose.”
But praise God, he does not stop there. In Habakkuk 3:17-19, we have what I call the song of the overcomer.
For though the fig tree shall not flourish,
neither shall fruit be in the vines;
the labor of the olive shall fail,
and the fields shall yield no food;
the flock shall be cut off from the fold,
and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord, the Lord, is my strength;
and He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet,
and will make me to walk upon my high places.—Habakkuk 3:17-19
This is a song. You put it to music, get the instruments out, and play it. This is a testimony.
Verse 17, depending on our perspective, could be one of the most depressing verses in Scripture. If nothing changes, there is no fruit, no cattle, no figs, no olives, no wine—nothing is happening.
Then Habakkuk comes to verse 18 and says, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.” In the midst of judgment, in the midst of Babylon coming in to destroy, pillage, and take everything, “I will rejoice in the Lord.”
From the beginning of the book of Habakkuk until this point, there have been no changes in circumstances. The circumstances over which Habakkuk cried at the beginning—“Lord, how long? How long? I do not understand this”—have not changed outwardly.
But what has changed is that Habakkuk’s eyes are now upon the Lord. He sees the Lord. He sees what God is doing.
In spite of everything, he is able to press on because he sees the One who is invisible.
Remember how Moses was able to endure all those people, all the nation of Israel, and all that they went through? He had seen Him who was invisible. He had encountered Him. He knew Him. He had that relationship.
This all comes back to a personal, intimate relationship with Him.
Judgment did come after Habakkuk. Israel went into captivity, but God’s purpose was fulfilled, and the Messiah came.
In the days in which we are living, God’s purpose will be fulfilled, and there will be that final culmination. But how about us? How are we going to live in these days?
What if nothing changes? What if things only get worse in the United States? What are we going to do? Are we going to say, “Yet I will exalt in the Lord. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation”?
He makes our feet like hinds’ feet. If you ever see a hind run, the beautiful thing about it is that it looks as though they never touch the ground. They do, but it appears that they do not even touch the ground.
To me, it is a wonderful picture of a heavenly, spiritual relationship—not bogged down by earthly things, but able to leap over mountains and obstacles in life, pressing right on.
Those high places where others could not go, they run right over them. They are being led by the Spirit of God. They have that intimate relationship with Him.
Regardless of what is there, they press on.
This is the challenge we have. If this country never changes, how does that impact our faith? Are we still going to be the righteous who live by faith?
We have talked at times about how this assembly is in a weakened condition. What if we never change? What if nothing in this assembly ever changes and we just get better—I mean, get worse? Freudian slip. That is a hope.
But what if everything gets worse? How does that impact your faith? What is our attitude of heart? Are we going to be murmurers? Are we going to quit? Are we going to leave?
Or are we going to say, “Lord, yet I rejoice in You. I do not see any fruit. I do not see anything going on, but my eyes are on the King. I know Your heart, and I know Your desire. That is why I am praying for Thy work to be revived.”
We have no excuses, brothers and sisters. We cannot use the conditions of this country, the conditions of our brethren, or the conditions of our work.
We have this personal relationship with Him, and He is calling us to be faithful unto Him and press on in spite of whatever else might occur.
It is all our desire that things would get better, but when you look at the Scriptures, there is not much hope or encouragement that things are going to get better. We had better settle in our hearts now how we are going to live and press on.
One of the things I have enjoyed about looking at the book of Habakkuk is that, when you look at the person of Habakkuk, you see a very practical lesson in spiritual exercise.
We use this term “spiritual exercise,” and our brother has shared on it. But in the life of Habakkuk, you see a beautiful biographical sketch of one who literally went through having his spirit exercised by the Lord.
Habakkuk was troubled. He had questions, and he went to the Lord. He had dialogues with Him. There was a relationship. He was yearning for His presence and to know the Lord, the light of His countenance, in such a way that he could really press on.
He wrestled through. He did not quit. He kept exercising and wrestled through things until he came to a place of understanding where the Lord had shown him.
He learned how to come into places of quietness in the midst of crisis—quiet places of abiding in Him in the midst of turmoil.
Through that, we see him come out at the end of the book in a strengthened position in the Lord, because his eyes had seen the King and he had done business with the King.
If we want to be strengthened in this hour, we need to have that same spirit as Habakkuk: to be willing to wrestle through with the Lord concerning the things we do not understand.
He loves us, cares for us, wants us to be free, and wants us to see more and more of Himself.
As we begin to conclude, we know that when the Lord comes, He asks, “When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” Will He find faith?
It is one of the things for which He is looking. He is looking for those who are in a place of simplicity, simply living and walking by faith.
Will He find faith? Will He find ones who are keeping their eyes upon Him, not being discouraged by everything else, not quitting and pursuing other things?
Praise God, one of the truths we see throughout Scripture and history is that the Lord always has His hidden ones.
We see the tragedy in Habakkuk. The people of Israel were disciplined by the Lord and led into captivity. Then, under Ezra and Nehemiah, there was the wonderful recovery of the temple being rebuilt and the wall being restored.
It was only a remnant, but there were ones leaving and forsaking Babylon and coming back to Him.
Tragically, within a hundred years, we have the book of Malachi. Those ones had again departed. As we said in 2 Timothy, they were holding to an outward form of godliness while denying its power.
They were going through everything outwardly, but they were in that place of corruption. They did not realize how they had been led away from that place of simplicity and purity.
The Lord challenged them: “You are offering defiled things. You are robbing Me. Your words irritate Me.” And they said, “How are we doing this?” They did not even know their true condition.
But praise God, there is an encouraging verse in Malachi 3:16.
Then they that feared the Lord spake one with another;
and the Lord hearkened, and heard,
and a book of remembrance was written before Him,
for them that feared the Lord,
and that thought upon His name.—Malachi 3:16
In the midst of that tragic situation, there were hidden ones. They were simply walking by faith, their eyes had seen the King, and they were being faithful to Him in spite of how everybody else was going on.
At the end of the New Testament, we have Laodicea. Again, Laodicea had those puffed-up ones who said, “We are rich, and have need of nothing.” The Lord said, “You are poor, blind, and naked.”
The call went out: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.” We do not know the response, but praise God, we believe there were a few hidden ones who responded and continued on.
The challenge for each one of us is this: Are we willing to be one of those hidden ones in this last hour, really following Him as He is calling us to do?
The burden of Habakkuk was simply this: “The righteous shall live by faith.” Is that too simple for us?
May we be those who return to that place of simplicity. We know the Lord is coming. We know that He desires that we be a people prepared for His return and that we hasten His return.
But do our lives really reflect that He is returning? Do we believe it? Is it something we merely utter, or are our lives a reflection and testimony that the Lord is coming?
If it is totally dependent upon what we say with our mouths, it is a weak testimony. The testimony of the reality of God’s truth is seen in our lives. As it is seen in our lives, that is what impacts and encourages and strengthens others in this hour.
May our faith be revived. When we look at Habakkuk’s prayer, “Revive Thy work,” what needed to be revived in those days was faith.
God was working; their faith to see that work needed to be revived. God is working in this hour. Our faith to see Him working needs to be revived—believing and really coming into that reality.
By His grace and mercy, may we return to that place of simplicity and purity of devotion to Him.
May the Holy Spirit search us, and may we be those willing for the Holy Spirit to do the adjusting, correcting, and adding as He needs to, for His glory and honor in this hour.
Let us pray.
Lord, we are thankful for Your cries of love to us.
We admit that, at times, when You cry out, that cry can hurt us. But in one way, it is a separating work; it is doing the work of dividing soul and spirit.
Lord, we want to be those found really cooperating with You in this day and this time. We do not want to be those resisting You.
We are thankful for Habakkuk’s willingness to go through this process. There were times when he encountered things, and You could understand if he had said, “This is enough. I give up.” But, Lord, he pressed on through.
In the midst of judgment, he came to that place of quietness, abiding and resting in You, for You to do what You needed to do.
Lord, bring us back to that place of abiding in You. Bring us back to that place of daily living by faith in You.
Bring us to that place where, in a very fresh way, every day our eyes would see the King.
We would be quiet. We would bring all of our flesh, everything, under Thy dominion. We would hush, and our eyes would see You upon the throne.
May You accomplish all that You desire to accomplish, and may Your work be revived in these days. In Jesus’ name, amen.