WE come to our final sermon from the book of Habakkuk and this from the last verse of the prophecy. This verse is in way of a testimony. Habakkuk expresses his joy in the Lord as he describes what the Lord is to him and means to him. We may not be able to express ourselves in quite such beautiful and all embracing language, but there is no doubt that we are able to empathise with the sentiments expressed in this verse. How precious they are, and they are words which we could do well to learn by heart so that they become words we can call up in times of need.

GOD IS SOVEREIGN.

The first thing the prophet expresses is the nature of God to him. He speaks of the Lord as his Sovereign. Here is the expression of a soul in worship and adoration, and in lowly submission before his king. But it also an expression of his confidence that God owns him as his beloved subject, and is his protector and keeper in all things for ever.

This is ever the Christian's attitude and conviction before God. We own that he has created us, and we also own that he has redeemed us by the precious blood of his dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we are doubly his possession and person, and we belong in utter submission to him. But with this worship and adoration of God as our King, there is the sense that we are beloved of our King because of his great love in redeeming us from our sin and rebellion at so great a cost. Having purchased us at so great a price as the life of his dear, only begotten, Son, we are confident that his love for us is infinite, and that having loved us in this way his love is eternal. I have loved you with and everlasting love. This is the constant declaration of God in the Old Testament. So Paul declares in Romans 8: 32 "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things."

Earthly kings may fail in their duty to care and protect their subjects, but God, who is perfect, who is almighty, will never fail to keep us in his love, and work all things for our good.

GOD IS OUR STRENGTH.

The prophet then declares that the Sovereign Lord is his strength. What a blessing this is, and it is something we do not sufficiently contemplate and lay hold of.

The Lord is omnipotent, all-powerful. There is nothing he can't do. There is no danger he is unable to protect us from. There is no problem he can't solve. There is no enemy that can separate us from his love. There is no friend that is so close to us. There is nothing he does not know about us, and still he loves us. He knows all our needs and supplies them. Jesus spoke of himself as the good shepherd going before his sheep and guiding them into pasture, and guarding them from danger. Satan is the strong man, and he is ever assaulting us in some way, but Jesus is the stronger than the strong man, and has overcome Satan, and delivered us from his kingdom, and brought us into the Kingdom of God, and we are safe under the protection of our sovereign.

So the Lord is our strength in every situation that may occur in our lives, and just as Habakkuk could face the terrible invasion of the Babylonians in the faith that the Lord was his strength, so we can face all life brings with the knowledge that the Lord is our strength. We can comfort ourselves with this truth even when so often we crumble under adversity. The truth we prove is that the Lord is there, and as we look back on our lives we can say that the Lord was our strength bringing us through all those times when we may have doubted or felt all was lost. The cry that the Lord has been our strength will be our praise in glory.

The strength that the Lord is to us is not necessarily physical, though we may be brought low with sickness. The strength is moral to fight all the assaults of the evil one, and overcome all temptation, and this is true even when we fall into sin and come in penitence before the throne of grace for washing. The strength is emotional whereby God strengthens us in overcoming all the hurts of life, and gives us strength to act in a Christlike way in all things. The strength is spiritual whereby by the Holy Spirit we are nourished by the word of God, and made to be victorious through the truth as it is in Jesus under all circumstances.

STRENGTH DESCRIBED.

These words of Habakkuk "He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights" are a testimony which is repeated by others in the Old Testament. See 2 Samuel 22: 34 and Psalm 18: 33.

The picture is a vivid one, and would resonate in the climate of Habakkuk's time when deer and goats were a common sight. The feet of a deer makes the deer able to run swiftly and easily. The feet of a deer also are most agile, and can move safely in the most mountainous places without danger or harm.

In this picture is the prophet's declaration that God gives him strength to surmount all difficulties. Having trembled at the thought of what was coming from the invasion of the Babylonians, and the devastation this would bring, he now states that in and through his faith in God this difficulty, when it comes, he will be able to face, and be courageous and strong.

When some difficulty or trial comes our way, in our human nature we may well be frightened and afraid; but in our knowledge and faith in God in Christ, we are able to say to ourselves that God will be our strength, and be able to face the trial in the strength of the Lord. As we face the trial and go through it we then prove the truth we have believed in, for God will prove to be our strength, showing us the way forward, and giving us to triumph in his strength over all adversity.

Paul, when writing his letter to the Philippians could assert this. He was in prison chained to two soldiers, with no privacy, and facing final execution. Yet he could still rejoice, seeing the truth of his words in Romans 8 that all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose. He rejoiced that because of his bonds the Gospel had spread throughout the whole of the palace guard. Also he rejoiced because Christians were emboldened to preach the gospel and so his work of preaching was being taken up by others. He declares in chapter 1: 18 Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice.

This strength from the Lord is expressed by Paul in Philippians 4: 11 where he declares "for I have learnt to be content whatever the circumstances." Then again in Philippians 4: 13 he says triumphantly "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." If we read the history of Joseph, and David, and others in the Old Testament we find that their testimony was the same. They proved that the Lord was their strength.

APPLICATION.

The question is concerning whether we say the same as Habakkuk. There may well be times when in the midst of trials our faith falters and we find ourselves doubting, or even complaining. We may even feel that we are failing. But the truth is not truly appreciated until we look back after the trial has passed. It is then, when we take in all the circumstances, and the outcome of the trial, that we can truly say that the Lord was our strength.

The fact that at the present moment we can say that we are standing firm in the faith of Christ, and that to us he is precious, is monumental proof that the Lord has been our strength, for we have to confess that we would not still be standing firm in our faith in Christ, and rejoicing in our salvation, unless it had been that God had been our strength, and given us strength to come through in the end still standing firm in the Lord.

We have been brought through all temptation. It is true that many times we have fallen and failed, but what is more true is that we have not been allowed to wander completely from the Lord, and we have always been brought back by the Lord's mighty power. The good shepherd has never failed to find his lost sheep and brought that sheep back into the fold on his shoulder.

The Lord has proved to be our strength in the growth in spiritual knowledge, both doctrinal and experimental, as the years have proved.

Having been strengthened by the Lord up to the present we know he will continue to be our strength in the future, and so we can face the future with greater faith and confidence.

How can we be more confident that the Lord is our strength? There are two ways. The first is to dwell much on the words of Scripture which speaks so strongly and graphically of the promise of Christ keeping his own for ever. We can also dwell on the testimony of all the triumphant saints of the bible who testify to the Lord being the strength of his people, and we can learn and take to heart all the promises which tell us that the Lord will never leave us or forsake us.