Title: My strength (Hab 3:16-18)
Contents
- Preacher: Pastor Yongbeom Yeh
Psychologists experimented with mice.
When the rat was put in the dock and the light was completely turned off, the rat died in three minutes.
However, when the light continued to shine, he lived for 36 hours.
In the end, the reason the dark, single-eyed rat died was not because of weakening physical strength, but because of despair.
So are people.
So are the saints.
1) despair
The prophet Habakkuk fell into despair, discouraged, and skeptical.
Hab 1:2 “How long, O LORD, when I cry, and you do not hear me?”
This discouragement increases as much as we have had great faith.
Why did the disciples who followed Jesus have to go home?
Why did John the Baptist send his disciples to the Lord from prison and say, "Are you the one who is to come?"
It's like a swing that went up high and falls deep.
great faith! It will become smaller fragments, and both myself and others will despair.
Why does despair come?
① There are environmental factors.
The environment is the external conditions that we see, hear, and feel.
In the age of the prophet Habakkuk, “justice” was ignored and “the wicked” prevailed.
Nevertheless, since the prophet Habakkuk does not have the power to cure this problem and fix society,
I just prayed like a saint and a prophet.
However, when there was no response and the situation became more difficult, I was finally disappointed.
② There is a belief factor.
Humans have several rhythms.
There is an emotional rhythm,
There is also a rhythm of life.
Because today's physical condition is good or bad all fall under this.
But saints have a “faith rhythm”
Yesterday, my faith arose like fire.
But today the faith has waned.
Therefore, if there is a worst time for me, it will be when the bad conditions of the two combine.
In other words, environmental and situationally unfavorable conditions prevail,
This is also the time when the most negative fears come.
Psalm 69:1-2 “Save me, O God, for the waters have flowed even to my soul; I sink into the deep waters where there is no place to stand;
Specifically, the two interact.
It can also be found in the disciples who were with Jesus.
Matthew 8:23-26 “As he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A great tumult arose in the sea, and waves covered the boat, but Jesus was sleeping.”
What are the environmental factors that the disciples are afraid of?
“A great tumult arose in the sea, and the waves covered the boat…”
What is the belief factor?
“Jesus was sleeping”
regretfully
We can always do this.
This is our true nature and reality.
In this case, if you consider this to be a shame, it is "conceit",
In such a case, if we condemn this, it is “pride.”
Why?
Because we are natural and weak beings.
2) Current state
Our current situation is similar to that of the prophet Habakkuk, so we are also discouraged.
High inflation due to high oil prices
Unemployment
Every negative word you hear
The reality you feel
and the unpredictable future
The more you look at the situation or condition, the more desperate the country or individual is, so the greeting “Live a long life!” has become an insult.
Nature People's hearts are moving, and so are their hearts.
How should we live in times like these?
3) Hope
Victor Franklin, a psychologist who survived the horrific sufferings of the Nazi concentration camps.
“It is hope that has made me survive the unspeakably cruel torture, dreadful punishment and inhuman abuse of the Nazi concentration camps,” he said.
That's right.
Hope endures.
Hope saves.
But hope does not mean that all hope is beneficial.
especially vain hopes
A vague hope is just as much an obstacle in our way as unnecessary discouragement and fear.
Because hope can only make me wait without doing what I do now in the name of hope.
So, although hope is good,
Don't let hope be your master.
We need to learn from the prophet Habakkuk.
The prophet Habakkuk saw a powerful hope.
Hab 3:19 “The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he will make my feet like deer, and he will make me walk on my high places.”
The question is, how can we see this hope and how do we get it? is.
There is Habakkuk-likeness here.
I should be able to do this on my own.
① I did not make it myself. - I prayed.
Hab 2:1 “I will stand on the watch, and I will stand on the ramparts; I will wait and see what he will say to me, and I will see how he will answer my questions.”
② I received it by grace from God.
In other words, we discovered that God's justice and faithfulness are still there.
It's just that God's justice and faithfulness did not match his time and manner.
Why is justice ignored and the wicked prevail?
Because of God's special providence.
Why did Pharaoh harden the king to get the Israelites out of Egypt?
Proverbs 11:27 “He who earnestly seeks good finds favor, but he who seeks evil finds evil.”
In the end, Habakkuk's discouragement turned into joy, and his lamentation became a song.
Hab 3:17-18 “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though there are no olive crops, though there are no plants in the fields, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls.”
The real hope is in God.
through God
Reversal is happening
Evil is removed
Justice comes to life.
Therefore, we must state this.
With the grace of God's caring, the country, the church, and I are doing well...
Ecclesiastes 7:10 “Do not say, “Why are the old days better than today?” It is not wise to ask this.
David is the saint who has been attacked by the most trouble and the most.
His prayer was a cry out of crisis, discouragement, and fear.
David, who wept a lot, became the most praised saint,
As he suffered the most disappointment, he became the king of peace, which is counted in history.
Because God is the only hope
Because he had God as his shepherd...
The same is true of the prophet Habakkuk.
Couldn't be silent.
Hab 3:18 “I will rejoice in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation”
The maternal grandmother wanted to plant a father in this only grandchild.
“Your father is a servant of God, and your father is a minister of God! It's great and it's great.
One day, this child puts a pink furoshiki over his shoulders like a cloak and goes up to the roof and shouts to the neighborhood children.
Hey~~ My dad is God's paper.
My father is a Lion of God.”
Self-esteem comes by force,
Its strength is the display of boldness.
Keep that in mind.
God is my strength
You are my salvation.
The secret of living through all the past years and many hurdles and difficulties in a year
not my strength.
Don't be discouraged by looking at the present.
Believe in God's promises and attributes
even in a negative environment
I hope you enjoy the essence of faith.