Standing Firm When Life Falls Apart

October 12, 2008

Habakkuk 3:17-20

Exordium: What shall we do when familiar supports and circumstances are taken from us? David asked that question as he wrote Psalm 11. “If the foundations are destroyed, what shall the righteous do?” They are to go on being righteous, “because the Lord is in His holy temple. His throne is in the heavens and He is righteous altogether.”

Explication: The prophet Habakkuk also wrote a Psalm on this theme for our times of trouble. Daniel Webster called it the greatest poem in the Word of God.  It is before us this morning:
“Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vine. Though the labor of the olive may fail and the fields yield no food. Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls.  Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,   I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

This virtue is rare in our day, to rejoice when material things fail or familiar faces are no more to be seen, to joy in desolation, barrenness or sorrow. See how the prophet emphasizes “I”, others may not rejoice, but I do!

I.    WHAT IS THE KEY TO HABAKKUK’S CALM HEART and JOY WHEN EVERY THING HAS FALLEN APART FOR HIM?

The joy is based on trust-It grows out of it. The key to having confidence in difficult times is trusting in God. He loves to be trusted, so that there is a significant connection between the trust of the human heart and the ability of God to receive trust and revel in it.