Looking at the evils and spiritual desolation in our nation, the enemies of God within and their hatred of our historical and cultural faith, it has left us all wondering what hope there is of any chance of reversing the situation and seeing the divine hand of deliverance in bringing the people back to a right place with their Creator.
With an utterly ungodly and
atheistic government fighting against the truth, and selling our nation out to false
religions and agendas that discriminate against the Christian faith, it has left
multitudes of sensible people distressed and dumbfounded as to what the future
holds for us.
The Holy Bible (God’s Word) furnishes
us with answers to every dilemma we may find ourselves in; and God calls us
back to himself, to turn around and get serious about what he is saying, and to
pray until the answer comes.
God can drive out every enemy,
dismantle all the plans of those who hate him, and send deliverance to his
people. If we will co-operate with him, then we shall live to see his mighty
hand at work once more for the salvation of our children, and the transformation
of many who are lost in the darkness of a lost and pointless existence.
We have to dump the junk, come
back to Him, and to His Word.
See below what the prophet
Habakkuk has to say, for here is a message just as suited to us as it was to
Israel in his days.
Habakkuk
1:1-4
Notes
by Matthew Henry (Revisions by John Masters)
1.
I will stand upon my
watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He [God] will say
unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved [corrected].
2.
And the LORD answered
me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables
(tablets of stone), that he may run that reads it.
3.
For the vision is yet
for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it
will surely come, it will not tarry [beyond God’s timing].
4.
Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not
upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
Here, firstly, the prophet
humbly gives his attendance upon God (v.1): "I will stand upon my watch, like
a sentry on the walls of a besieged city, or on the borders of an country
invaded by enemies, who is very serious to gain intelligence of all matters.
I will look up, will look around,
will look within, and watch to see what God will say unto me, will
listen attentively to the words of his mouth and carefully observe the steps of
his guidance, that I must not lose the least hint of instruction or
direction.
I will watch to see what he will
say in me" (so it may be read),
"what the Spirit of prophecy in me will dictate to me, by way of answer to
my complaints."
Even
in an ordinary way, God not only speaks to us by his Word, but speaks in us by our own consciences,
whispering to us, This is the way, walk ye in it; and we must
attend to the voice of God in both.
The prophet's standing upon
his tower, or high place, intimates his prudence (his
diligence), in making use of the helps and means he had within his reach to
know the mind of God, and to be instructed concerning it.
Those
that expect to hear from God must withdraw from the world and its worthless
distractions, and get above it, must raise their attention, fix their thoughts,
study the scriptures, consult experiences and those experienced, continue continually
in prayer, and thus set themselves up on the tower.
His standing upon his guard-tower
shows his patience, his constancy and determination; he will wait the time, and
weather the storm, as a watchman does, but he will have an answer; he will know
what God will say to him, not
only for his own satisfaction, but to enable him as a prophet to give
satisfaction to others, and answer their deliberations, when he is reproved or
argued with.
“Speak,
LORD; for thy servant heareth.” So
said the young boy Samuel when he heard the voice of the LORD calling to him.
In this the prophet is an example
to us. God is calling you to attention right now, if you have ears to hear.
1. When we are distressed and
perplexed with doubts concerning the methods of Providence, are tempted to
think that it is fate, or fortune, and not a wise God, that governs the world,
or that the church is abandoned, and God's covenant with his people cancelled
and laid aside, then we must take trouble to equip ourselves with proper
considerations to clear this matter.
We must stand upon our watch
against the temptation to disbelieve, to doubt, to be discouraged or
disillusioned, that it may not get gain a hold on us. We must climb up from
where we are and set ourselves upon the tower, to see if we can discover that
which will silence the temptation and solve the objected difficulties. We must
do as the psalmist said, to ‘consider the days of old’ and
make ‘a diligent search’ (Psalm 77:6); we must go into the sanctuary of God, and there take
time and consideration to understand the end of these things (Psalm 73:17); we must not give way to our doubts, but struggle
to make the best of our way out of them.
“Come on”, says the LORD, “and
let us reason together, for if My people, who are called by My name, will
humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways;
THEN [and only then] will I hear from heaven their cry, and will forgive their
sin, and will HEAL THEIR LAND.”
2. When we have been at prayer,
pouring out our complaints and requests [with thanksgiving and praise] before
God, we must carefully observe what answers God gives by his Word, his Spirit,
and his providences (spiritual influences), to our humble representations; when
David says, I will direct my prayer unto thee, as an arrow to
the target, he adds, I will look up, I will look and follow after
my prayer, as a man follows with his eyes the arrow he has shot, Psalm 5: 3.
We must hear what God the
Lord will speak, Psalm 85:8.
3. When we go to
read and hear the Word of God, and so to consult the life-giving oracles, we
must set ourselves to observe what God will say from them unto us, to
apply to our case,
what word of conviction, caution, counsel, and comfort, he will bring to our
souls, that we may receive it, and submit to the power of it, and may consider
what we shall answer, what responses we shall make to the word of God, when we
are corrected or reproved by it.
4. When we are attacked by such as
those who quarrel with God and his providence as the prophet here seems to have
been surrounded, besieged, as against a tower, by hosts of objectors, we should
consider how to answer them, fetch our instructions and responses from God,
hear what He says to us for our satisfaction, and be ready to say to
others, when we are reproved, to
satisfy them, as a reason of the hope that is in us (1Peter 3:15), and beg of God for a mouth and wisdom, and
that it may be given us in that same hour what we shall speak.
II. God
graciously gives Habakkuk a meeting; for he will not disappoint the believing
expectations of his people that wait to hear what he will say unto them, but
will speak peace, and will answer them with good words
and comfortable words, Zechariah 1:13.
The prophet had complained of the number of the Chaldeans [the hostile enemies
within], which God had given him an understanding of. Now, to pacify him concerning
it, he here gives him a further knowledge of the coming fall and ruin of those invading
enemies, as Isaiah had prophesied before this, when he had foretold Israels’
captivity in Babylon, and also the destruction of Babylon. Now, this great and
important event being made known to him by a vision, care is taken to publish
[proclaim and declare] the vision, and transmit it to the generations to come,
who should see the accomplishment of it.
1. The
prophet must write the vision, v. 2. Thus, when St. John had a
vision of the New Jerusalem, he was ordered to write, Rev. 21:5.
He
must write it, that he might imprint it on his own mind, and make it more clear
to himself, but especially that it might be made clear and profound to those in
distant places and transmitted to those in future ages.
What is handed down
by tradition is easily mistaken and liable to corruption; but
what is written is reduced to a certainty, and preserved safe and pure.
We have reason to
bless God for written visions, that God has written to us the great things of
his prophets as well as of his law.
He
must write the vision, and make it plain upon tables
(books, tablets of stone), must write it legibly, in large
characters, so that he who runs may read it, that
those who will not allow themselves time to read it deliberately may not avoid
a passing or curious look
at it. Probably, the
prophets were in the habit of writing some of the most remarkable of their
predictions in stone, and to hang them up in the temple, Isaiah 8:1.
Now the prophet is
told to write this very plainly – simply, and made understandable
to all.
Note, Those
who are employed in preaching the word of God should study plainness in speech,
so as to make themselves intelligible to those the least educated or insensible.
The things of our
everlasting peace, which God has written to us, are made plain, they
are all plain to him that understands (Proverbs 8:9), AND THEY ARE PUBLISHED WITH AUTHORITY; God himself
has prefixed his endorsement to
them; he has said, Make them plain – straightforward and clear to
everyone.
2.
The
people must wait for the accomplishment of the vision (v. 3): “The vision is yet for an
appointed time to come.”
You shall now be told of your
deliverance by the destruction of the Chaldeans' [the enemy’s] power, and that
the time of it is fixed in the counsel and decree of God.
There is an appointed
time, but it is not necessarily immediately near.
It may yet be deferred
a great while; and that is mentioned here as a reason why it must be written,
that it may be reviewed afterwards and the event compared with it when it
happens.
Note:
God
has an appointed time for his appointed work, and will be sure to do the work
when the time comes; it is not for us to
anticipate his appointments, but to wait upon his time.
And
it is a great encouragement to wait with patience, that, though
the promised favour be some time coming, it will most certainly come at last,
and be an abundant reward to us for our waiting:
‘At the end it shall
speak and not lie.’
We shall not be
disappointed, for it will come at the time appointed; nor shall we be
disappointed in it, for it will fully answer our believing expectations.
The
promise may seem silent a great while, but at the end it shall speak; and
therefore, though it does not come soon or immediately, yet we must
continue waiting for it, being
absolutely assured that it will come, and willing to wait in anticipation and
earnest prayer until it does come.
The
day that God has set for the deliverance of his people, and the destruction of
his and their enemies, is a day,
(1.)
That will surely come at last; it is never adjourned or changed to another day or time, but
it will without fail come at the fixed time and the perfect time.
(2.)
It will not tarry [will not be delayed], for God is
not slack, as some men count slackness (2Peter 3:9); though it seems not to appear in our idea of timing, yet it
will not go past God's time,
which is always the best time.
3. This
vision, the accomplishment of which is so long waited for, will be such an
exercise of faith and patience as will try and discover and prove men what sort
they are.
(1.) There are some who will proudly
disdain this vision, whose hearts are so lifted up that they scorn to take
notice of it; if God will work for them immediately, they will thank him, but
they will not give him credit; their hearts are lifted up towards personal vanity,
and, since God puts them off, they will shift for themselves and not be submitted
to him, to his timing; they think their
own hands and plans are sufficient for them, and God's promise (the
vision) is to them an insignificant thing.
Such a person’s soul that is lifted
up in pride is not upright in him; it is not right with God, is not as
it should be. Those that either distrust or despise God's all-sufficiency will
not walk uprightly with him, Gen. xvii. 1.
But, (2.) those
who are truly good (godly), and whose hearts are upright with God, will value
the promise, and venture everything they have or own upon it [they will happily
sell all that they have or possess to gain the promise (Matthew 13:44)]; and, in confidence
of the truth of it, will keep close to God and duty in the most difficult
trying times; and will then live comfortably in communion with God, dependent
on him, and expecting of him.
The just shall live by faith; during the captivity (troubles
and dreadful times) good people shall support themselves, and live comfortably,
by faith in these precious promises, while the actual performance of them is
deferred.
The just shall live by his faith, by that faith which he acts
upon the Word of God.
This is quoted in the New
Testament (Romans 1:17; Galalatians 3:11;
Hebrews 10:38),
the proof of the great doctrine of justification by faith only and of the
influence which the grace of faith has upon the Christian life. Those that are
made just by faith shall live, shall be happy here and for
ever; while they are here, they live by it; when they come to heaven faith
shall be swallowed up in sight and the revelation of the promise.
