Exposition by Max A Forsythe
The
Reformer's Fire
Exposition by Max A Forsythe
The great English preacher Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones spent most of his ministry praying this prayer of Habakkuk. "Revive us again" goes the phrase in an old hymn, so too is the earnest desire of all God's ministers and people. You and I all have relatives, friends and even enemies who need the life saving infusion of the Holy Spirit. Given the stark realities of our Calvinist world view, we can well understand the problem that brought Habakkuk to write his prophecy. and this prayer. No amount of intelligence, humility or any human characteristic can bring a person to a saving faith in Christ? Neither do national or even regional revivals that matter break out by some fool proof formula.
Last week at the closing of chapter two we acknowledged the revelation given by the prophet. "The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him." Those who live by faith still gather in the presence of the great and holy God of Habakkuk to give him worship and to bring our earnest prayers before Him. In this coming before our awesome holy God, Habakkuk leaves his petty earthy observations behind him. He has realized, that when it comes to the measure of sin between Babylonian and Judean, that the degree of difference between them was not a significant point before the absolute righteousness of our Eternal God. Were we to continue in an obsessive concern for the measurable merits of those who sin less than others, we would loose the proper focus of Who we are to see and worship through the Spirit.
And so, Habakkuk in his carefully outlined prayer begins with a humble request for the providential working out of God's purpose within History. Instead of mumbling about an apparent unfairness of God, he is brought to the point or realizing that God is not all things to all people. The grossly wicked will be punished just as assuredly as the minimally wicked, only the "the just shall live by his faith". The rest shall die for their sin, even as they revel in those sins and give their sins as much attention as the just give to our God.
Like Habakkuk, we too are invited to look up and live - to see and worship the eternal Triune God of heaven and earth. In the midst of our worship we may indeed petition Him to act again as He has in the past even as Habakkuk did. Yet, let our advise be tempered with awe and respect that it may be given through our heartfelt worship and thankfulness for what He has done for each one of us. And what He has given to us we may earnestly desire for others as well.
Do you sense the apparent tension between the two truths that I have been bouncing back and forth between? "Let all the earth keep silence before Him." Realizing who God is and being thankful for what He already has done - yet hoping that he will do more? "In wrath remember mercy". The world little appreciates the difference here and the worldly would rather fill the church with earthy concerns through the social gospel rather than hear of heavenly things.
You only have to watch the posturing of the presidential candidates to see the leading Democrat try to line up God on his side and the leading Republican try to make himself known for his compassion. In that unlikely performance both are playing to shore up the undecided. One to win the evangelical taste for God-talk and another to win those who support the compassion industries.
The calling of the Church is to live by faith in worship and in prayer. If we look forward to the charge of the New Covenant in this matter we may learn from Paul's admonishment to the Thessalonians (5: 16-18): "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
The first of these three charges from Paul is that we should be glad at all times. An infectious joy is in mind here that will draw others to Christ through us. Paul shows us that even in the midst of unenviable situations we should be happy. How do we do that? Well, the joy Paul has in mind here is a joyous exhilaration that possessed the early Christians. What gave them such joy? It was having a sense that in and through Christ they had thrown off a great weight, of having stepped out of darkness into the light of the New Age to come.
At an Army prayer meeting I once heard a thrice wounded Sergeant stand up and joyfully thank the Lord for having come home from South East Asia. There was a man who knew death and destruction which he did not dwell upon but instead focused his life upon the joy of living in Christ. We like Habakkuk need to learn that the salvation of our God is really Great News. Isn't that what the angels reported at Christ's birth? If the knowledge of the love of God does not make us glad, then what does it do for us? Like the Christians in Thessalonika, there are challenges, yet our cause for Joy - the redeeming love of God in Christ - is unchanging.
The second charge from Paul echoes our text from Habakkuk. "Pray without ceasing he exhorts us". The urgency of these words is that we must develop a continual sense of dependence upon our God. We should develop a constant urge to turn to God, at mealtime, going to sleep, waking up, and all the various opportunities in between. The image here is like the lead character in the movie Fiddler on the Roof and his constant banter with the God of heaven. Now I would hope that we could all be more serious about this than what that movie demonstrated. But prayer in essence is talking to God and sharing with Him our common joys and hurts.
A third charge here in Thessalonians is that we should "in everything give thanks". Next week as we move further into Habakkuk's prayer we shall see that he too understood this principle! This charge is in a special sense a combination of the first two that we should give joyful prayer. But to give thanks in all circumstances?
There is a story of two hunters who were crossing a field. Half way across they were accosted by a large angry bull. The men took off running towards the nearest fence. One hunter yelled to the other, "I don't think we are going to make it, would you say a prayer?" The other hunter responded with the only prayer he remembered from his father's table years before: "O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful." In such cases we can be thankful for strong legs. Once when I was home alone for an evening when I was in High School I went outside to see why the dog was so upset. As I stood in the yard pondering her yapping problem, I heard the thunder of hooves behind me. The neighbor's bull was paying a social call and hadn't broken into the barn yet to fulfill his amorous intentions. I ran toward the barn and the next thing I remember I was sitting in the window of the barn where we loaded and unloaded hay. Fully ten feet off the ground! I never jumped that high before or since!
Isn't it wonderful that God gives us adrenaline to help us in a tight spot. For that bodily design we can all give thanks on occasion. Four GI's in a jeep on a Southeastern Asian jungle trail ran into an ambush. The stepped out of the jeep, each grabbed a corner, picked the jeep up, turned it around, got back in and took off. That's not supposed to happen Lot's of escapes are not supposed to happen. But our God provides all sorts of unexpected opportunities for us to give Him thanks for. A close call on the highway? As you pause by the road, realize it is not your time yet! God still has work for you, give Him thanks and praise.
As we close, I should tell you there is another version of that bull story. In that version one hunter asks his partner if he thinks they can outrun the bull. His partner says not to worry about the bull, all he has to do is outrun his friend! The race of life in regard to salvation is not like that story nor is it like any comparisons between Babylonian and Judean sinners. The story of salvation is about the kind mercy of our Father in heaven who has saved some but not all.
Thanks be to God the Father that we have the faith once given to the saints. Now let us live by that faith and earnestly show the world what God's love has done through as well as for us even as we pray that others be given the same blessing that we have received.
Resources Used:
Baker, David W. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah.
Boice, James M. The Minor Prophets: An Expositional Commentary.
Places Preached:
Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in America)
Box 13926 -- Columbus, OH 43213
Hab03a 04 July 99
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