March 24, 2019 Notes Not Edited
The Bumps Are What
You Climb On
Habakkuk 3:16-19
SIS—Faith in God allows us to turn our obstacles
into opportunities, and our troubled times into triumph.
Charles Dickens
penned some of the most famous words in literature describing the troubled
times of leading up to the French Revolution.
In His book “The Tale of Two Cities” Dickens wrote:
It
was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it
was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of
incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was
the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us,
we had nothing before us.
Certainly, these
words apply today as much as they did to the tumultuous days leading to the
Bloody French Revolution. By almost any
measure, we are living in what may be described as the “worst of times” in our
world—especially in America.
If not the “worst” of
the “worst,” these are certainly very bad, very troubled times in our
world. We are engaged in a decade long
world war on terror that has no end in sight.
The entire world is teetering on the brink of financial collapse. America no longer discusses our economic debt
in terms of millions, or even billions, but in double-digit trillions.
A few weeks ago,
President Trump met a second time with the N. Korean dictator, Kim Jung
“Rocket-Man” Un. Kim Jung Un, like his
father and grandfather before him is a terrible person—evil incarnate. He lives in luxury while his people
starve. If you make him mad, he shoots
you on the spot. Now, he has nuclear
weapons and is developing more. Trump
has met with him twice, now, to try to talk some sense into this madman. The last talks broke down when Trump realized
Kim Jung Un had little desire to join the world community. The Korea War continues going into its 70th
year now. N. Korea poses a real nuclear
threat to the world.
I’ve only been around
about a decade over a half century, but I’ve never seen life this difficult or
our nation in such disarray. Sure, there
have always been challenges, but not on such a global scale with black clouds
continuing to amass. Perhaps only the
periods of the Great War and WWII may have been as ominous times.
What about “personal struggles.” I’ll bet there are more than a few people
in this room today that are facing foreboding challenges. I’ll bet there are more than a few of us who
have some degree of anxiety about some obstacle standing between us and our
“pursuit of happiness.” That’s what this
sermon is really all about—finding a path through the “bumpy” parts of life.
This reminds me of a story I read a while
ago about a family vacationing in the mountains. On one particular day the mom, dad, and two
young kids were hiking up a steep, and rather arduous trail. The incline became steeper and the pace had
slowed to almost a crawl. After a while
the little girl began to complain to her slightly older, but much more
adventurous brother, “This isn’t a trail at all. It’s all rocky and bumpy.” Not to be deterred in his great outdoor
adventure the little boy spoke up full of enthusiasm and hope, “Sure, Sis, it’s
bumpy! But, the bumps are what you climb
on.”
Life’s trail is full
of bumps and it is often an uphill climb.
We need the kind of faith that little boy had: “We need to learn to turn
our bumps into blessings.”
The “worst of times”
can become the “best of times” when we place our complete trust in God. That’s my encouragement to you this morning,
“With faith in God we can turn our
obstacles into opportunities and our troubled times into triumph.” We just need to learn how to take hold of
the bumps in life and keep climbing.
This morning we are
going to look at a text from the prophet, Habakkuk. Habakkuk preached during some very
challenging times for Israel. One of the
greatest Kings in Israel’s history, Josiah, had died and Israel plunged into
one the darkest periods of her history.
The religious reforms that Josiah had instituted died with him. Israel feel into a time of chaos and
violence. At the same time, Babylonia
had become one of the strongest empires in history, finally defeating the
Assyrian Empire. Now, they were amassing
their forces for an assault on Israel.
Habakkuk saw this amassing like the forming of dark clouds before a
violent storm. These were indeed, “the
worst of times for Israel. The road
ahead was steep and full of bumps.
Let’s read how
Habakkuk teaches us to “turn our obstacles into opportunities” by learning to
climb on the bumps of life.
16 I heard, and I trembled within; my lips quivered at the
sound.
Rottenness entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Now I must
quietly wait for the day of distress to come against the people invading
us. 17 Though the fig tree does not
bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the
fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in
the stalls,18 yet I will triumph in Yahweh; I will rejoice in the God of
my salvation! 19 Yahweh my Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like
those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights!
For the choir director: on
stringed instruments.
For those of us who
are much older than we like to admit, our education revolved around three
“R’s”—Reading, ‘Rwriting, ‘rithmatic.”
Faith also involves
three “R’s”: “Rejoicing, Relaxing, and
Responding.” These three concepts help
us put our faith into practice which will turn obstacles into opportunities and
troubled times into times of triumph.
1. REJOICE:
Because of Who God Is (v18a)
I listen to a song by
my friends the “Down East Boys” and it goes something like this: “I
don’t know the size of your problem, but I do know the size of your God.”
The most incredible
fact of history—the fact that makes all other facts make sense—is that God
Almighty sent His Only Son, Jesus Christ to earth to be born in a manger. He lived a sinless life. He died on a cross in our place. And then God
raised Him from the dead to show that our sins had been forgiven, and death had
been conquered on our behalf. THAT IS SO IMPORTANT I WANT TO REPEAT IT!
Now, if that doesn’t
make your heart nearly explode with joy, you don’t know nuthin’ about
Christianity!
We can rejoice
regardless of what our difficulties, obstacles, or challenges are in life, not
because of who we are, but because of Who God is! The first line of defense against
discouragement in life is “rejoicing.”
Look at verse 19. “For the choir
director: on stringed instruments.” This entire portion of Scripture,
indeed the entire book of Habakkuk was a “song to be sung!” Oh, may God give you a song in your
heart. Don’t let dark clouds or deep
valleys rob you of your song in life.
SING! SING! SING!
Habakkuk declared, “Yet, I will rejoice
in the Lord.” Paul the
Apostle said, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say
rejoice.” Phil 4:4
Verse 18
begins with a one-letter word in Hebrew, “wa,”
which connects what follows with what he just said. What he just said was, “things are really,
really bad.” Then in verse 18, he says
what he is determined to do in these troubled times.
Two times
in verse 18 Habakkuk refers to “Rejoicing.” First,
the word, rejoicing in verse 18 means “to
be exuberant, to celebrate, or in common usage, to shout for joy”. In this verse, Habakkuk goes a step further
by using a particular form called a “cohortative.” When used with the first person, “I,” it
refers to a “strong intention.”
He follows up the decision
to “rejoice” with the phrase, “I will take joy.” The HCSB, “I will
triumph,” is not my preferred
translation of this passage. This is
classical Hebrew poetic parallelism. “I will rejoice. I
will take joy.”
The word for joy
literally means to “go in a circle.” It
came to mean dance exuberantly.
So, what we have in this
passage is the first line of defense against despairing in life over the
obstacles that come our way: We must
REJOICE. Verse 18 can be expanded by paraphrase to say this:
“Regardless
of any difficult circumstances in life, I absolutely decide to rejoice in the
Lord and continue with singing, shouting, dancing, and praising His Name.”
Nothing will set the
Devil running in defeat more than for you to sing praises to God and dance
exuberantly before Him.
First step in turning
your obstacles into opportunities:
REJOICE. Second:
2. RELAX:
because of what God has done.
I’ve read that over
95% of the things people worry about never happen. I don’t know if that is the right percentage
or not, but I do know this: “worrying about anything whether it happens
or not does little—no, does no good whatsoever.” In fact, worrying will be
counterproductive. So, rather than worry
about the future, Habakkuk teaches us to RELAX about the future. Look at verse
16:
Now I must quietly wait for the day of
distress
to come against the people invading us.
But, what was the
source of Habakkuk’s peace in the face of the coming storm? Look at verse
18:
I will triumph in Yahweh;
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!
Habakkuk ties
together two of the most significant words in the Bible. First,
he uses the covenant name for God, Yahweh. Second,
he also uses the general term “El”
which refers to a supernatural being of great power, but Yahweh is the special
name of God given to Moses at the time God was delivering Israel from bondage
in Egypt.
Yaweh is the special
“covenant” name of God which reminds us of God’s sovereign choice to save
mankind. Then Habakkuk ties that
covenant name to the word, “yesha,” which in its various forms
refers to “salvation.” So, we have a covenant, or contractual
arrangement with God to provide our eternal salvation.
Therefore, we can RELAX.
God has taken care of everything.
Jesus was called the Savior when He was born. That identity was backed up by the entire Old
Testament going all the way back to the Garden of Eden when God promised a
coming Savior to Adam and Eve, who would “crush the head of
the Devil” (Gen. 3:15).
Because of Who God is
and What He has done we can relax in the face of even the gravest dangers or
most trying obstacles in life. Even in
the midst of a raging storm and troubled waters we can RELAX and be at peace.
A few years ago a man
painted a picture entitled, “Peace in the Midst of the Storm.” There are several hidden images in the
painting, including a cross and the face of Christ over-looking the tumultuous
waters.
SHOW SLIDE OF PICTURE
(Nest In a Storm)
The background is
dark and ominous. Lightning crackles
amidst the gathering storm clouds. Flood
waters are crashing in tumultuous falls over the jagged cliffs. But, right in the midst of the flashing light
and fury of the storm is a seabird quietly siting upon her nest, caring for her
young. She is absolutely at “peace in
the midst of the storm.”
God saved Noah from
the great flood. God saved Israel from
the harsh life of slavery in Egypt. God
again and again saved Israel from her enemies, even to this day. God, in Christ, died on the cross to save us
from our sins. God will save you from
whatever trouble you face today.
So, RELAX. Trust in what God has done. This will be the absolute hardest part of
climbing the obstacles in your life, but it is absolutely necessary.
REJOICE. RELAX. And most of ALL
3. RESPOND.
Hope in what God is Yet to do (19)
The great
philosopher, Yogi Berra, once said (or at least they say he said), “it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” He also said, “When in life you come to a fork in the road . . . take it!”
That’s sage advice
from someone who spent his life catching 100 mph fast balls. The most important ingredient to living
successfully is making right choices. It
is always right to choose to trust God.
Because of Who God is
we SHOULD REJOICE. He deserves all our
worship and all our praise. Because of
what God has done, we CAN RELAX. He has
proven Himself to be an All-sufficient Savior.
But, most of all—this is the most important part of the strategy to turn
obstacles into opportunities—we MUST RESPOND.
Look at v. 19:
Yahweh my Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like those of a deer
and enables me to walk on mountain heights!
The Hebrew in this
case conjures up to related but distinct word pictures, depending upon how you
translate “mountain heights, or high places.”
The first image is
that of a “sure-footed mountain gazelle”
skipping across the high plateaus of the mountains. The Lord gives us the skills necessary to
navigate the most dangerous terrain and to get by the most serious obstacles. The second
image it that of conquering a fortress. One renown OT scholar points out: “The expression is used to denote the
victorious possession and government of a country.” It is even used to describe God leaving His
throne to establish His kingdom on earth
Micah1:3 Look, the LORD is leaving His place and coming down
to trample the heights of the earth.
The image in either
case gives us the promise of absolute victory over any obstacle in our lives
through faith in God through Jesus Christ.
All we need to do is RESPOND to God’s promise to make His covenant with us
based upon the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The question for a
believer is never “can” there be
victory over our trials but “will” there
be. God has promised us victory and His
character and past performance are assurances of that victory. We just need to REPSOND.
A few weeks ago my
Scripture Memory verse for the week came from Titus 1:1-2. Paul
declares: “I am a
slave of God and an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ to build up the faith of
God’s elect through the knowledge that leads to godliness AND HERE IS THE THE REALLY KEY PART in the hope of eternal life that a God who cannot lie promised
before time began.”
God made a promise
and He has both the character and the power to keep that promise; but, each
person must RESPOND to that promise and receive that power individually.
Charles Dickens’
words apply to our situation today as much as they did during any other time in
history: these are the best of times and
the worst of times! The future
is filled with obstacles: financial
obstacles, health obstacles, or obstacles on a global scale. There are obstacles for our nation, obstacles
for our church, and obstacles for our families.
Faith in God will turn any
obstacle into an opportunity for blessing.
We must REJOICE in who God is; RELAX based upon what God has already
done; and RESPOND in faith to what God wants to do, today.
Maybe your life is
full of bumps. You may feel like you are
in what Charles Dickens called, “the worst of times,” and you desperately want
to get to what he called, “the best of times.”
The “worst of times”
can become the “best of times” when we place our complete trust in God. That’s my encouragement to you this morning,
“With faith in God we can turn our
obstacles into opportunities and our troubled times into triumph.” We just need to learn how to take hold of
the bumps in life and keep climbing.
A few weeks ago,
Shari and I
watched a documentary on T.V. called, “Free Solo.” We had seen advertisements for this
documentary when it came out in theaters, but we thought it was about Hans Solo
of Star Wars, and we aren’t big Star Wars fans.
In fact, it is about a very unique young man named Alex Honnold who
accomplished something no one else on earth has ever done, and may never do
again—he climbed up the 3200 feet, sheer vertical granite wall in Yosemite
called, “El Capitan,”—without ropes. All
he had to climb on were the cracks in the granite and little “bumps” barely big
enough to get a fingerhold on. He
climbed those “bumps” straight up, 3200 feet.
I want to play a clip that will show you just what you can do when you
learn that the “bumps in life are what you climb on.”
[clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urRVZ4SW7WU] Free Solo Trailer
[clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urRVZ4SW7WU] Free Solo Trailer
Be
sure about this, you will experience “bumps” along the way as you move through
this life. Hardships abound. Remember the words of Habakkuk, [Yahweh]
makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights!