Yet I Will Rejoice
Text: Habakkuk 3:16-19
Core Idea: Habakkuk teaches us that when life doesn’t make sense to us, when everything seems to be out of control, we can bring our fears to Him, rejoice in His salvation, and trust that His strength will sustain us. Then, may our gratitude rest not in what we have, but in who holds us – our faithful and sovereign God.
INTRODUCTION
Well, in light of Thanksgiving, we’re going to take a short break from the Book of Genesis – and turn to the Book of Habakkuk. So, please turn your Bibles to Habakkuk 3:16-19. Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes you some time to find this book since many of you may not be familiar with it – in fact, some of you may have never read it before. It’s tucked away along with all the other minor prophets – forgotten and overlooked by many. And yet, this short book contains profound truths for those seasons when life doesn’t make sense – when we can’t understand what God is doing. Habakkuk was a prophet who lived in Judah during a time when his nation was crumbling both spiritually and politically. Violence, corruption, and injustice were everywhere – and Habakkuk just couldn’t understand why God seemed silent. So, he cried out, not with polished prayers, but with raw honesty – asking God hard questions about everything that confused him. That’s what makes this book so unique. Unlike most prophets who spoke to the people on God’s behalf, Habakkuk spoke to God on the people’s behalf – wrestling openly with his doubts. But by the end of the book, we’ll see that Habakkuk is no longer shaking his fist in frustration – he’s lifting his hands in worship. He begins the book by asking, “How long, LORD, must I call for help, but You do not listen?” (1:2) – but ends the book by saying, “I will rejoice in the LORD” (3:18). And that’s why this small book is the perfect book to look at on Thanksgiving, for true thanksgiving isn’t about pretending that everything is fine – it’s about learning to praise God even when everything isn’t. We’ll unpack that more in a moment. But as we open the Book of Habakkuk together, we’re going to see that real thanksgiving doesn’t depend on how full our tables are, but on how firm our trust is. It’s not the song of someone who has everything, but the song of someone who has learned that God is enough. Then, with that in mind, let me invite Jiwoo to the front so that he can read the passage for us.
16 I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. 17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes 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 rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to tread on the heights.
Thank you, Jiwoo, for reading the passage. And children, I hope you enjoyed that short video – a helpful summary of the book. Now, I want to highlight three things Habakkuk models for us in this passage:
· HONEST BEFORE GOD
· JOYFUL IN THE SAVIOR
· STRENGTHENED BY THE LORD
1) HONEST BEFORE GOD
Now, to understand the significance of this passage, we need to step back and trace the journey that brought Habakkuk here. As I mentioned before, the nation of Judah was rotting from the inside – there was corruption in leadership, violence in the streets, and injustice in the courts. The wicked seemed to prosper while the righteous suffered. So, in frustration, Habakkuk cried out, “Where are You, God?” He asked in Habakkuk 1:3, “Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing?” From his perspective, God appeared idle – indifferent to the sins of His people. It’s as if he was saying, “I thought You were just. Then, why aren’t You doing anything?” Well, God did respond – but not in the way Habakkuk expected. God said in Habakkuk 1:6, “I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own.” In other words, God was going to use a nation even more wicked than Judah to discipline His people. Now, that didn’t make sense to Habakkuk – “How could a holy God use an unholy people to accomplish His holy purpose?” Confused and distressed, Habakkuk complained again – Habakkuk 1:13, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do You tolerate the treacherous? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” Habakkuk 2:1, “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what He will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.” He was basically saying, “I’m not moving until You answer me, God!” He was stubbornly telling God to explain Himself. And here’s what’s remarkable: God didn’t rebuke him. He didn’t say, “Who do you think you are – demanding an answer from Me? How dare you question My plans?” Instead, He patiently just assured Habakkuk: “I understand your frustration, but justice will come. The Babylonians will get what they deserve. My plan may seem slow to you, but it’ll be fulfilled at the perfect moment. I’m not idle. I’m sovereignly orchestrating all things for your good.” Then, God said the words that would become foundational to our faith today – Habakkuk 2:4, “The righteous person will live by his faithfulness.” In other words, He was inviting Habakkuk to wait on Him even when life made no sense – to trust Him even when He seemed silent. Think of it this way: when you step outside at night, you can’t see the sun – but you know it’s still there. In fact, the stars are proof of it, for they don’t illuminate light on their own – they only reflect the light from the sun. Faith is like that – it trusts that the sun is still shining even when the world is dark. Habakkuk couldn’t see the light yet, but he chose to believe that the light would break through. And as if to assure Habakkuk, God ended His response with a declaration of sovereignty – Habakkuk 2:20, “The LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.” He was basically saying, “Be still and know that I am God. When everything feels out of control, I have never lost control.” And then look at the shift in Habakkuk’s heart – he said in Habakkuk 3:2, “LORD, I have heard of Your fame; I stand in awe of Your deeds, LORD.” He was no longer demanding answers. He was no longer questioning God. He was now resting in God’s character. Even though his circumstances hadn’t changed, his heart had. And Habakkuk moved from complaint to confidence – from fear to faith. Listen to how he describes his state in verse 16: “I heard and my heart pounded [in that he was probably nervous and anxious], my lips quivered at the sound [in that he was probably crying]; decay crept into my bones [in that he probably felt hopeless], and my legs trembled [in that he was probably scared]. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.” Did you catch that? He was no longer asking God to rescue His people and end this nightmare – he was actually waiting for the Babylonians to come and do their thing. Now, the word “wait” in Hebrew carries a sense of peace – calm assurance. But this wasn’t passive resignation – he wasn’t saying, “Well, that’s that. I tried. But I couldn’t change God’s mind. It’s over.” No, this was spiritual surrender – it’s as if he was saying, “God, I just can’t understand how this could possibly be good. In fact, thinking about it makes me anxious. I’m scared. My heart is heavy, and my legs are shaking, knowing the kind of pain my people will go through. But I’m still choosing to believe that Your plans are good. I’m choosing to rest in Your sovereignty. I’m choosing to trust You. I’m choosing to rejoice in You, believing that You will somehow bring all things together for the good of Your people.”
This is profoundly important because it teaches that it’s possible to rejoice in sorrow. Many assume that if we’re filled with grief and sorrow, if we’re weeping uncontrollably, if we’re scared and anxious, it means that we’re lacking faith. They say we shouldn’t let our sorrow get to us. But Habakkuk shows us otherwise. It’s possible for us to be scared and confused – but still be faithful, thankful, and joyful. Think of Job. In one day, he lost his possessions, his servants, and even his children. Can you imagine the pain that Job must have experienced at that moment? The grief must have been extremely unbearable. And yet, look at what he did in Job 1:20-21, “At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.’ In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” God never condemned Job for grieving. Yes, Job wept honestly – and yet he also worshiped faithfully. Too many of us are waiting for our sorrow to pass before we rejoice. We think we can only thank God once things improve. But Habakkuk teaches that gratitude is not dependent on relief – it’s born out of trust. You can have trembling hands and a thankful heart at the same time. In fact, just as the furnace turns on when the cold sets in, the fire of true thanksgiving often burns brightest in the darkness, for our suffering can often press us closer to God. Then, let me ask you: Are you scared today? Are you anxious about something? Are you weary in your heart? Do you feel like life is out of control – or that God seems distant or indifferent to your pain? You don’t have to wait for those feelings to fade before you give thanks. You can rejoice in your sorrow. You can find reasons to worship Him in your pain. In fact, allow your weeping to enhance your joy in the Lord, knowing that He’s with you, that He has never lost control, and that He will guide you step by step. His work may seem slow to us – but everything will be fulfilled in His perfect time. So, come honestly before God today. Come with all your fears, anxieties, and concerns. But don’t let them lead you to complain and doubt – let them drive you closer to God so that you’ll be able to trust God in your trembling and thank God even when your circumstances are uncertain. Faith is not pretending to be strong – it’s not the absence of fear. It’s trusting God in the midst of it.
2) JOYFUL IN THE SAVIOR
Now that we’ve seen that joy and gratitude are not just emotions that depend on our circumstances, Habakkuk shows us how this kind of joy is possible. Verse 17, “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes 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.” Let’s stop here for a moment. Habakkuk understood that when the Babylonians invaded, life as he knew it would come to an end. Then, the agricultural imagery here isn’t symbolic – it’s a realistic picture of total collapse. Every phrase represents something vital being stripped away. The fig tree not budding meant that there would be no more blessings from God. Since figs symbolized peace and prosperity, no buds meant no hope for fruitfulness or stability ahead. No grapes on the vines meant that joy and community life would dry up. Since wine symbolized celebration and fellowship, without grapes, now there would only be sorrow and silence. A failed olive crop meant the loss of food, light, medicine, and even temple worship. So, without oil, there would only be physical and spiritual darkness. Fields producing no food meant famine – in that basic provisions will be gone. And as a result, hunger and scarcity will be everywhere. No sheep in the pen meant economic devastation and spiritual loss, since sheep provided both livelihood and sacrifices for worship. And lastly, no cattle in the stalls meant the collapse of productivity, wealth, and national strength – in that the entire foundation of society will be gone. All that to say, Habakkuk was painting a “total loss” scenario – a world stripped of every source of security: no food, no income, no comfort, no stability, and no means of worship. And yet, in the middle of that devastation, Habakkuk declared in verse 18, “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” How could he say this? How can anyone rejoice when everything has been taken away? The secret lies in who he was rejoicing in. Habakkuk wasn’t rejoicing because his circumstances would soon improve – he wasn’t waiting for deliverance, restoration, or the downfall of his enemies. No, he said, “I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my Savior even when all these things take place.” Again, he was still absolutely terrified of the future – his heart was pounding, and his legs were trembling. So, he wasn’t minimizing the pain or pretending to be strong. But he resolved to rejoice in the Lord of his salvation. “Even if everything around me collapses, I will not allow my circumstances to rob me of my joy, for I still have the One who saves me and holds me. I can lose everything – but I know nothing can separate me from Him.” This is what it means to be joyful in the Savior. Habakkuk teaches us that true joy is not found in the gifts, but in the Giver. The fig trees, the vineyards, the livestock – all can wither away, but the Lord will remain with him.
What does this mean for us? It means that as Christians, we, too, can rejoice and give thanks even if life as we know it ends because our salvation is secure in Jesus Christ. The truth is that what Habakkuk described here can happen to us because we live in a broken world. So, the question Habakkuk puts before us is this: “When the plans you’ve been working toward fall apart, when the job you were hoping for doesn’t come, when the relationship doesn’t blossom, when worship feels dry and laughter feels forced, when you can’t find reason to celebrate, when you encounter unexpected troubles, when others sin against you, and when everything that made you feel stable like your savings, health, and reputation are stripped away, will you still rejoice in the Lord? Will you give thanks, knowing that you already possess everything that truly matters in Christ? Will you see that the loss of earthly things cannot compare to the eternal gain of knowing Jesus?” In fact, Jesus Himself taught this perspective. In the Gospel of Luke, when the disciples returned rejoicing that even demons submitted to them, Jesus said in Luke 10:20, “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” In other words, He was basically saying, “Don’t root your joy in what you can achieve or possess, but in what God has already secured for you. Rejoice not in your success, but in your salvation. Thank God that you’re already accepted and loved in Christ.” Corrie Ten Boom, who survived the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, used to hold up a piece of embroidery in her hand. Now, from the back, all you could see were messy threads – tangled, knotted, and without any clear pattern. But then, she would flip it over to reveal a beautiful crown stitched in gold. And she would say, “That’s how life looks to us on earth – full of confusion and chaos. But one day, we’ll see it from God’s side, and we’ll realize He was weaving beauty all along.” Habakkuk couldn’t see the pattern – from his perspective, everything was unraveling. But he trusted that God was still weaving something good, even in the dark threads of judgment and loss, because he believed that God’s story wasn’t finished. He was confident that, in His perfect time, salvation would come to His people. That’s what it means to rejoice in God our Savior. Our joy and gratitude are not grounded in the arrangement of our circumstances, but in the assurance of His character. Even when all we see are tangled threads, we can rejoice that our names are written in heaven and that God’s hand is still at work. Because Jesus was stripped of comfort, security, and even the Father’s presence on our behalf, we will never be empty. He lost everything so that in Him, we would lose nothing that truly matters. So, today, whatever your circumstance, let Christ and His cross be the reason you rejoice, sing, and give thanks again. Even if the fig tree doesn’t bud, even if the fields are bare, even if the stalls are empty, we will rejoice in the Lord – we will be joyful in God our Savior.
3) STRENGTHENED BY THE LORD
Even though Habakkuk’s heart has already been transformed, God doesn’t leave him to face the coming trials on his own – the same God who called him to rejoice in suffering now promises to sustain him through it. Verse 19, “The Sovereign LORD is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to tread on the heights.” Now, the word “deer” can be a bit misleading because most of us are probably thinking of Bambi – a gentle animal grazing in a meadow. But the Hebrew word here actually refers to a mountain deer or ibex – an animal that leaps across rocky cliffs where one wrong step could mean a fatal fall. How can they do that? How can they stand on those steep cliffs? Because their feet are designed for it. They have strong, split hooves that can cling to narrow ledges and hold them up in those high places. And that’s the picture Habakkuk was giving us here. He wasn’t saying, “God will make the path easier so that I can take a nice stroll.” No, he was saying, “I understand that God won’t remove the danger – the Babylonians will come. But I also know that God will prepare me and protect me so I can endure it. Yes, I may have to climb those high and steep places – but I know He’ll equip me with everything I need to stand firm and safely navigate the days ahead.” All that to say, God’s promise wasn’t that He’ll spare Habakkuk from hardship, but that He’ll strengthen him through it.
This is incredibly important for us today because the truth is that so much of our fear and anxiety often comes from the unknowns of the future. So many of us worry about what might happen – the hardship that could come our way, the losses that we could incur, and all the ways things could go wrong in life. Even though it hasn’t happened and even though it may never happen, we’re already paralyzed by all the what-ifs. We rehearse future pain in our minds without remembering future grace. But Habakkuk reminds us that God doesn’t promise to give us grace for imaginary tomorrows – no, He promises strength for today. When the trial actually comes, His grace will meet us there. Kathy Keller once said, “God doesn’t play that game. He doesn’t inject hypothetical grace into your hypothetical nightmare situations so that you would know what it would actually feel like if you ever did end up in that situation. He only gives grace for our actual situation.” In other words, God’s promise is not “I’ll make sure you never face trials,” but “When those trials come, I’ll be your strength in the midst of them.” That’s exactly what Habakkuk discovered. He didn’t know what the coming invasion would bring, but he trusted that when it came, the Sovereign Lord would be his strength. God didn’t remove the mountain, but He prepared Habakkuk’s feet to climb it. And that’s the same promise for us. So, let me ask you: What future “what-ifs” have been stealing your peace today? What situations are you rehearsing in your mind as if God won’t be there when they come? What would change if you trusted that the same God who carried Habakkuk would carry you – not in theory, but in reality? Brothers and sisters, you may not know what the coming months hold. You may not feel strong enough for what’s ahead. But you can rest in this: if and when that day comes, the Sovereign Lord will be your strength. So, let’s not live in anxiety about what’s ahead – let’s give thanks for today, not because the path is easy, but because we know the Lord is faithful. He’ll give us the grace we need when we need it, He’ll make our feet steady on uneven ground, and He’ll lift us to stand firm on the heights of His faithfulness. So, this Thanksgiving, let’s not only thank God for what’s behind us – let’s also trust Him for what’s ahead, knowing that even when we don’t yet see how we’ll stand in the future, He’s already preparing our feet for the heights.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, Habakkuk teaches us that when life doesn’t make sense to us, when everything seems to be out of control, we can bring our fears to Him, rejoice in His salvation, and trust that His strength will sustain us. Then, may our gratitude rest not in what we have, but in who holds us – our faithful and sovereign God.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) Why do you think God allows Habakkuk to express his doubts and frustrations so openly? Why do we often feel like we need to “hide” our sorrow, anger, or fear from God? Can you recall a time when you felt confused or disappointed by God’s silence? What helped you hold on to faith in that season?
2) What do verses 17-18 teach us about where Habakkuk’s joy comes from? What are some “fig trees” or “vines” in your life – good things you might be tempted to depend on for joy? How can we cultivate a habit of rejoicing in God’s salvation, even when our feelings don’t match our faith?
3) What does the image of the deer on the heights teach us about God’s strength in our weakness? What are some “high and rocky places” you’re facing right now – areas that feel dangerous or uncertain? What “what-ifs” tend to steal your peace the most? What’s one step of faith you can take this week that says, “The Sovereign Lord is my strength”?