IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL

Hab 3:16-19

What is the most difficult experience you have had to endure in your life?

What event in your life most wrenched you emotionally?

“Wrenched” a sudden feeling of compassion, sorrow, or anguish, or an act that causes such feeling: " goodbye”, or “farewell”.

For some it might be….

The death of a spouse, a child, a parent or someone very close to you.

Losing your baby due to complications.

For others, being ignored, rejected, or put down by someone you love.

Losing your job or home fire or a natural disaster.

Maybe it’s the consequences of personal sin against a holy God who loves you and gave His Son for you.

Think back, now…..What were your thoughts and actions towards God at that difficult time in your life? The first question I would ask is….Did you pray? If so, how? With tears? With anger? With a broken and contrite heart? Alistair Begg said "Prayer must be instrumental, not supplemental." We can learn a great amount of resilience as we read this minor’s prophet letter as we go through this life. Habakkuk goes to God with a compliant, but comes out of the ring with a rejoicing heart. Can you say that about your experience with God as you go through a difficult experience? Can you say what Habakkuk says? Despite not getting the answer you hoped for? (v17-v19) 

There have been many people who have lost everything as you read the scriptures….And the one thing that has keep then going is the sustaining and sufficiency of God’s grace and His unfailing love to see us through here on this earth as we wait eternal glory.

Example:

Job who lost everything that he held dear to him, and to top it off he had a contentious wife who told him to “just kill yourself”. We read in Job 2:9 “Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die."

How about a seventeen year old boy named Joseph, who was hated with a murderous hate by his own brothers, sold into slavery, accused of rape and spent at least 2 years in jail for it, by what we read in (Gen 41:1).

David as he went through a whirl wind of opposition from King Saul to even his own sons, to losing his closest friend. King Saul wanted David dead and Jonathan at first refused to believe this but later found out his father did want David dead. So he had a plan to help David escape from his father. (1 Sam 20:1-40) 1 Sam 20:41 tells us the heart of these two men” David rose from beside the stone heap and fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And they kissed one another and wept with one another, David weeping the most.”

Solomon who lost everything and called it a life of “vanity”.

Jeremiah a prophet who was ignored, treated terribly by the people he was supposed to minister to. “Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, "This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears." Jer 26:11. “Now Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the LORD.” Jer 20:1-2

The Apostle Paul who was beaten, stoned and left for dead; all for preaching the precious gospel to lost sinners. 2 Cor 11:23-30 we read this about Paul’s life “Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. “Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”

How about the saints not recorded in Scripture, but people who lived their lives according to the gospel!

William Tyndale who was strangled to death because he refused to stop preaching as the Catholic Church was lighting the fire after declaring him a heretic.

John Bunyan who was imprisoned for preaching the gospel in his church, by the people in his church, which keep him from his family for over a decade.

William Carey who lost a wife, a child, and never saw one convert in the midst of that for over five years.

The wives of the five missionaries who lost their husbands to a savage attack that took their lives trying to reach the Auca Indians

Horatio Spafford who lost his daughters after the ship they were on collided with another ship, the only one who survived was his wife and the note she sent him through telegram was “saved alone”. Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to pen one of many beautiful songs ever to be penned in my opinion. “It Is Well With My Soul”

Your name amoung the great saints as you go through or have gone through similar or to a different circumstances of life.

Let me ask you! What would you do if you woke up to the phone ringing with news that would change and turn your world upside down? Could you pray this prayer with praise as Habakkuk does? Though the outcome is going to be terrible and that God cannot change His mind; and it causes Habakkuk’s “body to tremble” and “lip to quiver” and “rottenness enters into his bones.” But! Habakkuk still is able to praise God and say “It is well with my soul” Habakkuk finds his rest here in the LORD who will sustain him and keeps the promises of deliverance, because God is good. (v17-v19) 

See! It’s the idea of trusting in God despite the circumstances. It’s the idea of trusting in God that He is able and would give him the ability to overcome this present evil situation. What can we learn from this prophet and the people like him? God renews our faith in Him when we dwell and remind ourselves of His past deeds in the face of current trials. Remember “Perfect love cast out fear” 1 John 4:18-19 says “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us.” God has a perfect plan of retribution as He refines His called out ones and as He punishes evil and evil doers in His perfect timing and ways. There should be no fear in the Christian life because He is sovereign over my life, and my future is held in His sovereign, perfect and holy hands. What we need to understand when we read this Minor Prophets letter is this... Christ is enough! Christ is enough when we are faced with……

Struggles and Trials

James said “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4

This is what the lesson was, during a terrible time in history according Habakkuk. Testing and trails refine us for eternal glory with a holy transcendent God. A strong faith and adoration is what God is building in us, as we too, go through times of unrest and trials. Habakkuk is praying that he would find rest in the day of trouble! (v16c) Like Habakkuk we should know that this is going to be hard at times and difficult. Nowhere in Scripture will you find the Christian life was supposed to easy. In reality it’s exactly opposite…our Christian lives are marked by suffering. Our Christian lives are marked by how we deal with our sufferings. Let’s be honest with ourselves, it’s when tragedy strikes we grow closer to God and more intimate with the Savior. And this is where we find perfect rest for a weary soul and burdensome soul. The only way possible to find victory in storms is through the sustaining grace found in the gospel confession. John wrote “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” 1 John 5:41. Jesus said “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Christ is enough because God is good!

Christ is enough when we are faced with……

With the Unknown

We are comforted and warned about fearing the unknown by Jesus Himself. Matt 6:25-34 we read these words "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

It takes a great faith to trust in someone you have never seen, heard or touched……Doesn’t it? Jesus is saying I know what you need and when you need it. So relax child of God and rest in Jesus. He is reminding us, who is in control, and who making the universe spin perfectly, so stop worrying…. because it’s causing you to sin. We are to rest in the sustaining mercy of God through Christ by putting all your confidence in Him, and not in self, or your circumstance. That’s exactly what Habakkuk is saying in (v17) Though we are going to go through famine and a devastating economy because of our disobedience. I will rest in the sovereign God who will deliver us once again as He did His people when they were in Egypt. Habakkuk realizes though this is going to be a terrible time, it’s nothing in comparison to the burning anger of God on those who remain in their sins. For Habakkuk, and for us, we can rest in His sovereign grace and care despite the trial or struggle.

When the “supposing questions” came knocking at his door he didn’t shut the door and lock it.

What Habakkuk did was open the door and cry out “Come In”

“Suppose the fig tree does not bud? Suppose there are no grapes? Suppose the olive crops fail? Suppose the fields produce no food? Suppose there are no sheep in the pen? Suppose there are no cattle in the stalls?”

“Come in, come in” is the cry of Habakkuk.

Why and How? Christ is enough, because God is good! Christ is enough when we are faced with trails because……

He is the Great Savior

This is exactly what Christ did for you and me as He placed Himself on the Cross to please a holy God. Heb 12:2-11 reminds us of this truth “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Habakkuk says he can rejoice in the disciplining of the Lord for our good and His glory. (v18-v19)

It strengthens our faith and our walk in Him, to continue no matter what lies ahead. Charles Spurgeon said “Our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strengths.” Habakkuk knew God was the answer to his and our problem, sometimes it takes a little bit to get there. This portion reminds us that God can take everything away from us in order to get our attention to what is most important. What is most important? His glory to be known throughout the earth by our lives of adoration and obedience to His glorious name. 

Warren Wiersbe said in his commentary on this letter “Though the fruit and the vegetables disappear from the freezers of the supermarkets, and the canned goods are no, longer available on the shelves. Though we no longer can afford meat and our chequing accounts have reached their limits and I can’t make my mortgage or car payment still I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.”

Waiting on the Lord is often not easy for us because only the Lord knows exactly how long He will take to fulfill His promise. And unfortunately we are impatient people by nature. Habakkuk has come a long way from complaint to contentment, and we are to learn the same lesson here for our lives as well. Though there is no easy answer to why God does what He does. We can rest knowing…. He is the holy, sovereign One, who is over everything and He knows exactly what He is doing. Its though struggles we understand the ways of God through His word and that we surrender our lives to His sovereign care. What He calls and asks us to do is… Walk by faith that He gives to us as a gift, and to always rest in Him through prayer. Why? Because prayer is a great place to live, to settle a weary and burdensome soul, to find assurance and victory through Christ in our gospel confession.

As R C Sproul said “When we pray, we must remember who we are and whom we are addressing.”

The holy and transcendent One who is sovereign over everything in my life, your life, our families, our church and also this universe. We have a peace that surpasses all our understandings to why things happen the way they do. As long as God is glorified and if He took it all away, my heart will still rejoice in the holy transcendent God of my salvation who is sovereign over Michael Andrews. This is all possible because Christ is enough 

And that makes it well with my soul!