HINDS FEET IN HIGH PLACES

#298                                                          HINDS FEET IN HIGH  PLACES                                                                                

Scripture Habakkuk 3:17-19, NIV                                                                                                                    Orig. 9-20-89

Passage:  Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  The Sovereign Lord is my strength, he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.  (For the director of music, on my stringed instruments.)

Purpose:              Continuing a series on the Old Testament prophets, here examining Habakkuk’s change from perplexity to praise.

Keywords:          Bible Study

Timeline/Series:               Sequential/Old Testament Prophets

Introduction

                The guide sheet covering the prophets of Israel and Judah shows Habakkuk as a contemporary of Jeremiah.  The same prevailing injustice that Jeremiah railed against, is the contention driving this prophet to deep consternation.

                Nothing about this man is known other than the historical setting that surrounded him.  His name appears only here in this book of three chapters. He was of the tribe of Levi, for he identifies himself as one of the temple singers (3:19)

                Paul knew him and so should we.  He three times extols his great statement of faith, “the just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).

                Romans 1:17 “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”

                Galatians 3:11 “Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”

                Hebrews 10:38 “But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.”

I.             Note his perplexity.  Habakkuk 1:1 “The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see”: Invasion coming from without—the Battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C., in which the Babylonians claimed total dominance, and corruption arising within—Josiah has been dead a few years and his sons have come to the throne (Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah). 

                He raises three questions.  How long? V2 “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?” Why? V3 “Why do you make me look at injustice: Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?  Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.”  These questions assert both the evil of foreign powers, but also the corruption of religious/political leaders.  He pauses, and God answers these questions in a way unsettling to Habakkuk. V5-6 “For I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans.”  Remember Jonah’s struggle with Nineveh.

Habakkuk responds with his third question, V 13b “Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously?”  V12 He remembers who he is addressing, and V12b he extols God’s promise: Israel will live and her enemies will die.  God’s holiness will not allow Him to betray His word.

II.            Next, see what persuades him.  Habakkuk 2:1 “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.”  God’s three-fold plan for his prophet: He is to wait (2a, 3c), he is to watch (2a), and he is to write (2b).  Again God answers the prophet’s question with a recordable vision of five parts.  Woe against their insatiable greed (V6-8)—“because”; woe against their overarching ambition (V9-11)—“for”; woe against their cruelty (V 12-14)—“for”; woe against their inhumanity toward other people (V15-17)—“”for”; woe against their idolatry (V18-20)—“but.”

Habakkuk concludes ashamed that he has so rudely doubted. 2:20 “But the Lord is in His holy temple.  Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

III.           Finally, we hear the call to prayer and praise.  3:2 “O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the  years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath, remember mercy.”  He stands convicted and convinced.  Nothing will stay him from faith. 

                Habakkuk 3:17-19 “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  The Sovereign Lord is my strength, he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”