God’s Promises In A Time of National Calamity

The Promises of God For A Time Of National Calamity Habakkuk 2.1-4, 14, 20 Things were bad in the nation. Things were out of control. Justice never prevailed and the wicked hemmed in the righteous. Justice was perverted. And in chapter 2 God lists the sins of the people that brought judgment on the Babylonians, the Chaldeans. He pronounces judgment on the nation of Israel in chapter one. Habakkuk and Jeremiah were contemporaries. Jeremiah‘s ministry as we know it was in Jerusalem. Jerusalem the capital and also the Center for the Jewish faith. It knew better. It should have been leading the world in righteousness. Instead it was a center of sin. Interestingly Habakkuk’s assessment of the condition of the nation in the first four verses of chapter one were spot on. It was his understanding of God and God’s seemingly lack of response to his prayers that troubled him. He didn’t understand what God was doing. God was getting ready to judge the nation and the center for their faith, the Temple. What is going on in our nation and in the church in this nation is perplexing. A.W. Towzer wrote, 70 years ago, “I believe a time is coming when we not be able to take our Christianity as casually as we do now.” That time has come. God is sifting His church today. He is calling His church out of the institutional church. What will happen to our country is in His hands. In the early part of this century we have experienced 9-11 and other forms of terrorism. We have experienced a Pandemic. We have passed laws against the Word of the LORD. God always gives us promises for difficult times. And He was making some statements here to Habakkuk concerning the righteous. He said the righteous will live by his faith and He gives promises with that. They were facing national disaster, a calamity beyond anything they had experienced before. They were being judged for their sins. But God was going to be faithful to the righteous. And they were going to live by their faith in Him. When a nation celebrates what God condemns, judgment from on High must eventually come. No one can say how or when or where that judgment will come. But as certainly as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, as certainly as the great empires of history have fallen, America will not escape God’s judgment. Hard times coming Habakkuk. You are going to have to live by your faith if you are going to get through it. Thus the promise... * The Righteous Person will live by faith v.4 This is going to work out in very practical ways in these days of calamity and judgment. Mental and Emotional Support In a time of judgment our support systems and people we leaned on are often removed. All we have is God. And He is all we need! Physical needs being met in a time of scarcity. Psalm 37.25 I have been going and now I am old. I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Habakkuk 2.4b The righteous (the just) will live by his faith. Matthew 6.33 Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you. A time of shortages and scarcity upon the nation but the righteous living by his faith. Spiritual strength coming to those who trust in God. The testings brought the people to lean completely on God. They had not other choice. Psalm 11.3 When the foundations are being destroyed what can the righteous do? The answer is here in Habakkuk! He said it. I am going to wait. 2.2 Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation     and make it plain on tablets     so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;     it speaks of the end     and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it;     it will certainly come     and will not delay. I am going to rejoice no matter what. God is my strength. I wait for Him. * The Earth will be filled with the Knowledge of the LORD v.14 Kenya, Haiti dancing this week. In other words, there will be nowhere where the true and delightful knowledge of God, who is the source of all life, truth, and joy. There will be personal, and universal knowledge of God. This is not mere knowledge about God, but a relational knowledge of Him and with Him. Just as when you are in the sea, water is all around you, so when you walk the face of the earth, God and the knowledge of Him will be all around you, all the time. This will be a totally transformed, restored, renewed, and redeemed Earth, and animals and human beings will be full of the true knowledge of the true God and therefore permeated by holiness and happiness. “We are looking forward to a New Earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). Obviously that time is not now. It is Hope for the Future. A promise of God that will be fulfilled. * The LORD is on His Throne v.20 As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ deliberately limited His omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. But now they are His in absolute, full power. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ now has all the power at the throne of God. From His ascension forward He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. This is the Day of Pentecost. We celebrate that today. The conditions of the first century are what the church finds itself in many places around the world, growing strong with governments that are either opposed or indifferent to it. God is in control. Jesus showed that to a His disciples. He demonstrated that from the Ascension to Pentecost. Acts 1.3-8 It was not time that God was going to restore the Kingdom to Israel. It was time for the Kingdom of God to come in the outpouring of His Spirit. They would live in it and proclaim it. Then it happened in Acts 2. Jesus had gone up. His followers had been in prayer. He poured His Spirit out. People started coming to Christ. The promises given to Habakkuk nearly 2,600 years ago are for us today... in a time of National Calamity, on this Pentecost Sunday 2021 Let the whole earth be silent before Him. Michael Card’s song comes to mind often... You and me we use So very many clumsy words The noise of what we often say Is not worth being heard Quiet waiting, listening... Listening to what God is saying... Live by faith. Look to the LORD. God is in control.