LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH
SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2022
HABAKKUK 2 VERSES 1 – 14
Habakkuk is an
example of a man of vision. He could see
what was happening around him but he could also see further than that. He could see what God could do for the people
in the business of prayer, in communion with God. Is that not what we want today – that we might
be in communion with God? Habakkuk gets himself
off to a place where he can meet with God.
In chapter 1 he sees all the difficulties around him but now he is in a
place where he is alone with God. There are
no interruptions, no disturbances. He
wants to concentrate his mind on what God would say to him. That is the place of prayer. I am sure you like myself find this a
difficult place. Just to be alone with
God, to commune with God. There is
always someone looking for you at that exact moment or your mind gets flooded
with the things to be done tomorrow or the things you haven’t done in the past
week. Habakkuk sees what is happening
around him, the rebellion of the nation, people turning their backs on God. In
his complaint to the Lord in chapter 1 the Lord answered him. The remedy seems far worse that the problem
was. In chapter 2 verse 1 he says “I
will stand upon my watch and set myself upon the tower and will watch to see
what he will say unto me and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” He is not looking for a board meeting or a
committee meeting or a meeting with the elders.
No he decides to wait on God.
He sees the nation of Babylon for what they are. In verse 17 we read that as a fisherman
gathers his net so Babylon will gather all the people and they will be taken
captive into Babylon. Their nets will
never be full. Habakkuk then sees this
great nation worshipping their own ability.
God is their own intellect, their hands are their gods. Habakkuk sees all this and decides to stand
upon the watch. No man has the answer to
this problem. In our province we can see things happening all round us, falling
numbers in churches, people who have turned their backs on God. Habakkuk finishes his prayer in verse 17. He acknowledges that God is going to bring
this cruel nation down to Jerusalem and will allow them to carry the people
away. He will rebuke a nation that is
more righteous than they are. Our ways
are not God’s ways. God has ways of answering prayer that we might question at
times. A cruel nation would come in and take the people captive. Habakkuk in the midst of it all decides he
will stand upon his watch. He is waiting
on God, to hear what God has to say to him.
Maybe we want to rush God. We
have been praying and pleading but there is no answer. Habakkuk was going to persevere with
God. He was determined to stand. Do we ever do that? It takes time and patience. This man is steadfast in what he is going to
do. “I will stand” – doesn’t say “we”
but only “I”. It doesn’t matter who
would follow him, he was prepared to stand and wait. To see what God has to say to him. That can be a lonely place. Maybe no-one else knows your burden at this
moment in time but remember God knows.
Babylon was an idolatrous nation, a cruel nation, a nation that thought
nothing of man or God. Habakkuk was determined
that God would answer him. He leaves the
time of prayer in expectancy. He was
expecting God to do something new in his heart.
God would answer. He was sure
that the answer would come. He was not
content unless the answer came.
Sometimes we are not content unless the answer suits us but that is not
always God’s way. We need to be prepared
to pray but also to leave expecting something to happen. How do I leave the prayer time? Do I just say “amen” and then forget about
it? That is not the example we have
here. Habakkuk wanted to wait on God. Do we leave the prayer time in
expectancy? Are we prepared to wait on
God today? Do we forget sometimes what
we have prayed for? Are we not really
expecting anything from God? “They that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as
eagles, they shall run and not faint.” (Isaiah 40 verse 31) In times of hardship we can renew our strength. That means getting up in the morning and
waiting on God for him to renew our strength for each and every day. The eagle goes to the clouds, it soars above
everything else. When we renew that
strength we can soar above our anxieties.
Hebrews 12 verse 1 tells us to “run the race that is set before us.” Who can stand in our way? Colossians 2 verse 6 “As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him.
”Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope
in the Lord.” (Psalm 31 verse 24) How do
we leave the place of prayer? When
Abraham received the promises of God he was told to take a heifer, a goat and a
ram and divide them into pieces (Genesis 15).
As he waited on God the birds came down to devour the pieces but Abraham
had to defend them. He was to be on his
guard at all times. Perhaps God is
asking you today to defend his promise.
Satan chips away at that promise but you have to guard it before God. Habakkuk was showing patience and perseverance. He went to the tower and waited upon
God. Have you a special place where you
can be alone with God? Philip Keller was
a great author and he wrote a book called “Lessons from the sheepdog”. One lesson he learnt was that of
obedience. The dog he worked with was
quite old and he would obey all the commands except that one of obedience. When the shepherd gathered all the sheep together
he would tell the dog to wait. The dog
would hunker down but before long he would start to creep towards the
sheep. Soon all the sheep were
scattered. The dog couldn’t wait for the
next command. We need to learn to wait,
not idly but working with God for his plan and purposes to be worked out.
Habakkuk was
also going to watch. His eyes
were set to watch for God from that tower.
Like Abraham who received the promise of a family, you and I need to be
standing guard over what God says to us.
We pray for unsaved children in our Sunday School but we need to do
something in the meantime. We need to
invite – that is our part. Then God
brings them in. This man climbed up into
the tower to wait and watch for God.
Remember when Jesus and his disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane? He left his disciples and went further to
pray to his Father. When he returned to
the disciples he found them asleep. He
asked them “could you not watch with me for one hour?” Just one hour devoted to the Lord. Colossians 3 verse 1 “If ye then be risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the
right hand of God.” Habakkuk could see
at ground level all that was going on around him but now he goes higher – he wants
to see what God would say. I am sure you
have heard the story of 2 prisoners in a cell with just one window. One looked out and saw the dirt and filth of
the street beside the cell window whilst the other looked up and could see the
clouds, the sun and the moon. Sometimes
we see only the things that keep us down but we need to set our eyes on the
things above. We could leave our church
today thinking only of the empty pews or we could leave thinking we have a
great God, I must learn to wait, watch and listen for him. Yes we can pray for revival and the children
in our Sunday School, for the preacher in the pulpit but do we actually believe
God is able to do it? The watchtower was
a place of refuge and vision. He could
see what was happening all around him, such was the clarity of the vision he
had. Is our vision clouded today?
Remember when Mary and Martha sent for Jesus because Lazarus was ill. When Jesus delayed his coming they told him “if
you have been here he would not have died.”
But they actually received something more, a bigger surprise. They saw Lazarus resurrected from the dead. Maybe God is going to do something more for
us, far above what we could ever expect.
Habakkuk couldn’t see what God would say but he knew he would answer him. Sometimes God answers right away but other
times he tells us to wait. Still other
times he says no!
Habakkuk wants
to witness for God. “and what I
shall answer when I am reproved.” When
God speaks to me what will I answer? I
must stand ready to be a witness for God.
God is working not through the big things but rather the little
things. We need to see the bigger
picture.
Dr Lloyd Jones
said “we preach not to fill our churches with men and women but we preach to
see sinners saved from hell and the two are not the same.”
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