DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MAY 18, 1879,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"O Lord, I have heard Your speech, and was afraid; O Lord, revive Your
work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known;
in wrath remember mercy." Habakkuk 3:2.
(In commemoration of the completion of the 25th year of his Ministry
over the Church meeting in the Tabernacle).
HABAKKUK had the sadness of living at a time when true religion was in
a very deplorable state. The nation had, to a great extent, departed
from the living God. There was a godly party in the kingdom, but the
ungodly and idolatrous faction was exceedingly strong. The Lord
threatened judgment on the people on account of this and it was
revealed to the Prophet that an invasion by the Chaldeans was near at
hand. The Prophet, therefore, was filled with anxiety as to the future
of his country because he saw its sinful condition and knew where it
must end. The book of his prophecy begins with the earnest question of
intercession, "O Lord, how long?" His spirit was stirred within him at
the sin of the people and his heart was broken by a vision of the
chastisement which the Lord had ordained.
It becomes all who bear witness for God to thus be stirred in soul when
they see the name of God dishonored and have reason to expect the
visitations of His wrath. A man without a heart of compassion is not a
man of God. Yet Habakkuk was a man of strong faith, a happy
circumstance, indeed, for him in evil times, for if faith is needed in
the fairest weather, much more is needed when the storm is gathering!
And if the just must live by faith even when the morning begins to
break, how much more must they do so when the shadows are deepening
into night? Those who have tender hearts to weep over the sins of their
fellows also need brave hearts to stay themselves upon God.
Habakkuk's name, by interpretation, is the embracer and I may say of
him that he truly was one who saw the promises afar off and was
persuaded of them and embraced them. He took fast hold upon the
goodness of the Lord and rested there. In reading his book, one is
struck by the way in which he realized the Presence of God. Fitly does
he entitle his book, "the burden which Habakkuk the Prophet did see,"
for in the vividness of his apprehension he is eminently a "seer." He
perceives the Presence of God and bids the earth keep silent before
Him. He beholds the Divine ways in the history of the chosen people and
feels rottenness entering into his bones and a trembling seizing him.
God was very real to him and the way of God was very conspicuous before
his mental eyes. Hence his faith was as vigorous as his reverence was
deep. It is in his prophecy that we read that wonderful Gospel sentence
upon which Paul preaches many sermons, "The just shall live by
faith"–and it is in this prophecy, too, that we find that notable
resolution of Faith when, under the worst conceivable circumstances,
she says or sings, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither
shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the
fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold,
and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the
Lord, I will joy in the 'God of my salvation.'"
Now, Beloved, it will be well for us if we have much of Habakkuk's
spirit and are grounded and settled by a strong confidence in God. If
so, while we may have somber views, both as to the present and the
future, we shall be freed from all despondency by casting ourselves
upon Him whose ways are everlasting. His goings forth of old were so
grand and glorious that to doubt Him is to slander Him! His Nature is
so unchangeable that to reckon upon the repetitions of His gracious
deeds is but to do Him the barest justice.
In the text which I have selected this morning with an eye to the
celebration of the 25th year of our happy union as pastor and people, I
see three points upon which I wish to dwell. The first is, the
Prophet's fear–"O Lord, I have heard Your speech, and was afraid." The
second is the Prophet's prayer–"O Lord, revive Your work in the midst
of the years,
in the midst of the years make known." And the third is the Prophet's
plea–"In wrath remember mercy," coupled with the rest of the chapter
in which he practically finds a plea for God's present working in the
report of what He had done for Israel in the olden times.
I. First, then, I want you to NOTICE THE PROPHET'S FEAR–"I have heard
Your speech, and was afraid." It is the fear of solemn awe–it is not
dread or terror, but reverence. Read it in connection with the 20th
verse of the preceding chapter–"But the Lord is in His holy temple:
let all the earth keep silence before Him. O Lord, I have heard Your
speech, and was afraid." All else was hushed and then, in the solemn
silence, he heard Jehovah's voice and trembled. It is not possible that
mortal men should be thoroughly conscious of the Divine Presence
without being filled with awe. I suppose that this feeling in unfallen
Adam was less overwhelming because he had no sense of sin, but surely
even to him it must have been a solemn thing to hear the Lord God
walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
Though filled with a childlike confidence, yet even innocent manhood
must have shrunk to the ground before that majestic Presence. Since the
Fall, whenever men have been favored with any special Revelation of
God, they have been deeply moved with fear. There was a great Truth of
God in the spirit of the old tradition that no man could see God's face
and live, for such a sense of nothingness is produced in the soul by
consciousness of Deity that men so highly favored have found themselves
unable to bear up under the load of blessing. Isaiah cries, "Woe is me!
For I am undone; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts!"
Daniel says, "There remained no strength in me." Ezekiel declares,
"When I saw it, I fell upon my face." And John confesses, "When I saw
Him, I fell at His feet as dead."
You remember how Job cried unto the Lord, "I have heard of You by the
hearing of the ear: but now my eye sees You. Why I abhor myself, and
repent in dust and ashes." Angels, who climb the ladder which Jacob
saw, veil their faces when they look on God! And as for us who are at
the foot of that ladder, what can we do but say with the Patriarch,
"How dreadful is this place"? Albeit that it is the greatest of all
blessings, yet is it an awful thing to be a favorite with God! Blessed
among women was the Virgin Mother, to whom the Lord manifested such
high favor, but for this very reason to her it was foretold, "Yes, a
sword shall pierce through your own soul also." Blessed among men was
he to whom God spoke as a friend, but it must be that a horror of great
darkness should come upon him. It is not given to such frail creatures
as we are to stand in the full blaze of Godhead, even though it is
tempered by the mediation of Christ, without crying out with the
Prophet, "I was afraid." "Who would not fear You, O King of nations?"
Habakkuk's awe of God was quickened by the "speech" which he had heard.
"O Lord, I have heard Your speech," which is, by some, rendered,
"report," and referred to the Gospel of which Isaiah says, "Who has
believed our report?" But surely the meaning should rather be looked
for in the context and this would lead us to interpret the "report" as
relating to what God had done for His ancient people when He came from
Teman, cleaving the earth with rivers and threshing the heathen in
anger. The Prophet had been studying the history of Israel and had seen
the hand of God in every stage of that narrative–from the passage of
the Red Sea and the Jordan on to the casting out of the heathen and the
settlement of Israel in Canaan.
He had heard the speech of God in the story of Israel in the silence of
his soul. He had seen the deeds of the Lord as though newly enacted and
he was filled with awe and apprehension, for he saw that while God had
great favor for His people, yet He was provoked by their sins. And
though He passed by their transgressions many and many a time, yet He
did chasten them and did not wink at their iniquities. The Prophet
remembered how God had smitten Israel in the wilderness till the graves
of lust covered many an acre of the desert! He remembered how He had
smitten them in Canaan, where tyrant after tyrant subdued them and
brought them very low. He remembered the terrible judgments which the
Lord had sent, one after another, thick and threefold upon His guilty
people, fulfilling that ancient Word of His, "You, only, have I known
of all the nations of the earth, therefore I will punish you for your
iniquities."
He saw that burning text, "I the Lord your God am a jealous God,"
written in letters of fire all along the history of Jehovah's
connection with His elect people and so he cried, "O Lord, I have heard
Your speech, and was afraid." Probably, however, Habakkuk alludes to
another source of apprehension, namely, the silent speech of God within
his prophetic bosom, where, unheard by men, there were intimations of
coming vengeance which intimations he afterwards put into words and
left on record in the first chapter of his book. The Chaldeans, a
people fierce and strong were coming up. They were a bitter and hasty
nation, terrible and dreadful. They were swifter than leopards and
fiercer than evening wolves.
These were hastening towards Judah as mighty hunters hurry to the prey
and in the spirit of prophecy Habakkuk saw the land parched beneath the
hoofs of the invading horses; princes and kings led away into
captivity; the garden of the Lord turned into a desolate wilderness and
Lebanon, itself, shorn of its forests by the hand of violence. The fear
of this frightful calamity made him tremble, as well it might, for
Jeremiah himself scarcely found tears enough to bewail the Chaldean
woe!
Now, my Brethren, when the Lord leads His servants to look from their
watchtowers and to guess the future by the past, we are also afraid.
When we see God's chastisement of a sinful people in years gone by and
are led to prognosticate the probable future of a sinful people in the
present day, then do our hearts fail us for fear lest the Lord should
avenge Himself upon the guilty nation in which we dwell! We are also
afraid for ourselves with great fear, for we, also, have sinned. Thus,
you see, the Prophet's fear was made up of these three things–first, a
solemn awe inspired by the near Presence of the Lord who cannot look
upon iniquity, lest haply He should break forth upon the people as a
consuming fire. Secondly, an apprehension drawn from the past report of
God's ways which He had made known to Moses and His acts to the
children of Israel, lest He should again smite the erring nation. And
then, thirdly, a further apprehension which projected itself into the
future, that the Lord would execute the threats which He had so
solemnly uttered by His Prophets and permit the Chaldeans to treat His
people as though they were so many fishes of the sea to be taken in
their net and devoured.
Putting those three things together, I advance to the Prophet's special
subject of fear which has been generally overlooked but is very
conspicuous in the text. The Prophet was afraid because of the
particular period of national life through which his people were
passing. They had come, if I read his prayer correctly, to "the midst
of the years," or the middle period of their history. Habakkuk's
ministry was not exercised in the first ages when Moses and Samuel
prophesied, nor yet in these latter days wherein we live, upon whom the
ends of the earth have come. He probably ministered 600 years before
the coming of Christ–somewhere in the very center of human history–if
that history is to make a week of thousands as to its years as many
have imagined.
With regard to the Israelite people, they were now far removed from the
day, "when Ephraim was a child." They were in their middle life when
the best things ought to have been developed in them. The heroic age
was gone and that unpoetical, matter of fact era was come in which men
labored in the very fire and wearied themselves for very vanity and,
therefore, like a tender intercessor, the Prophet cries, "O Lord,
revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years
make known." The application to ourselves which I want to make this
morning is drawn from the fact that we, also, as a Church, have reached
"the midst of the years." Under the present pastorate we are like
mariners in mid ocean, distant 25 leagues, or rather years, from the
place of our departure and making all sail for the further shore.
As to any service we may expect, personally, to render, we are
certainly in the midst of the years if not near to their end. In the
course of Nature we could not expect that more than another 25 years of
service could be compassed by us, [Brother Spurgeon died January 6,
1892, less than 13 years later.–eod]nor are we so foolish as to reckon
even upon that! We have, at any rate, come to middle life in our Church
relationship now that we celebrate our silver anniversary. Brothers and
Sisters, there is about "the midst of the years" a certain special
danger and this led the Prophet, as it shall lead us at this time, to
pray, "O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst
of the years make known."
Youth has its perils, but these are past! Age has its infirmities, but
these we have not yet reached! It is ours, then, to pray against the
dangers which are present with us "in the midst of the years." The
middle passage of life with us as individuals and with us as a Church
is crowded with peculiar perils. Have you never noticed how previous
dispensations have all passed away in their prime, long before they had
grown gray with years? Upon the golden age of Paradise and perfection
the sun went down before it was yet noon! The Patriarchal period saw a
few of its hoary fathers wearing the veneration of centuries, but in a
few generations men with lengthened lives had grown so skilled in sin
that the Flood came and swept away the age before it had yet began to
fade!
Then came the Jewish state with its judges and its kings–and scarcely
have we read that Solomon built a great house for the Lord before we
perceive that Israel has gained the zenith of her glory and her
excellence declines. Even so was it in the Christian Church of the
first ages, so far as it was a visible organization. It began
well–what hindered it? It was in full health and strength when it
defied the lions and the flames and laughed emperors to scorn! But
before long Constantine laid his royal hand upon it and the Church
became sick of the king's evil–the cruelest of all diseases to the
Church of God. This malady, like a canker, ate into her very heart and
defiled her soul so that what should have been a spiritual empire
chastely wedded to the Lord Christ became the mistress of the kings of
the earth!
Her Middle Ages were a night of darkness which even yet casts its dread
shade across the nations. It seems as if the middle passage of
communities cannot be safely passed except by a miracle of Divine
Grace. The morning comes with a dawn of bright beams and sparkling
dews, but before long the sun is hot and the fields are parched, or the
sky is black with clouds and the glory of the day is marred. This is a
matter of constant anxiety to the lover of his race who knows the
jealousy of God and the frailty of His people, lest in the midst of the
years the people should turn aside from their faithfulness and forget
their first love and, therefore, the Lord should be provoked to remove
their candlestick and leave them to their own devices. O Lord, my God,
grant this may not happen unto this, Your Church!
What, then, are the dangers of this middle passage? First, there is a
certain spur and stimulus of novelty about religious movements which,
in a few years, is worn out. I well remember when we were called, "a
nine days wonder," and our critics prophesied that our work would
speedily collapse! Such excitement had been before and had passed
away– and this would be one among other bubbles of the hour! The nine
days have lasted considerably longer–may nine such days follow them in
God's infinite mercy! Now, whatever detractors might say, we know that
there was then a life, an energy, a freshness about everything which
was done by us as a Church which we could hardly expect to continue
with us for all these years.
Youthful novelty has certainly gone and the danger is that a community
should be greatly weakened by the ceasing of that force which, in some
cases, has been all the power possessed. Lady Huntingdon, in a letter
to Mr. Berridge, deplored the fact that every new work, after a season,
seemed to grow lifeless. Berridge remarked that in this the primitive
Churches were much like our own and that after the former rain which
falls at seed-time there is often a dry interval until the latter rain
descends. I fear the good man's remark is sadly correct. From an
admirable fervor, many cool down to a dangerous chill! This is to be
bemoaned where it has occurred and it is to be feared where, as yet it
has not happened, for such is the natural tendency of things. Beloved
Brothers and Sisters, I have prayed to God that when what is called the
esprit de corps is gone from us, the Esprit de Dieu may still abide
with us! I have prayed that when the spirit which grows out of our
association with each other declines, we may be sustained by the Spirit
which unites us all to the Lord Jesus!
The middle passage becomes difficult, then, because things grow
ordinary and commonplace which before were striking and remarkable. I
do not know that this would matter much if it were not too often the
case that with the stimulus of novelty certain other excitements also
vanish. We tremble lest the people who prayed mightily at first should
restrain prayer before the Lord; lest those who made many
self-sacrifices should think that they have done enough; and lest those
who have consecrated themselves unto the Lord should imagine that they
began upon too high a key and cannot keep up the music to such a pitch.
We tremble lest a people who have loved the souls of men and have been
like mighty hunters before the Lord after sinners, may suddenly dream
that they are excused from more effort and may leave others to do
mission work for their Lord. It is an ill day when a feeling of
satisfaction begins to creep over us, but this is one of the perils of
"the midst of the years." I pray the reliance on God in which we began
should never depart from us.
It often happens, in the commencement of religious movements, that men
are weak and few and feeble and despised–but they trust in God and so
they grow strong–and their strength becomes their overthrow. The
tendency of our proud nature is to cease from childlike confidence in
God when once it feels strong enough to rely upon itself! The Lord says
not by many nor by few–and if even for a moment we should glory in our
numbers and think that now we are powerful for the achievement of any
work which we may undertake–we shall grieve the Spirit of God and He
may, in holy jealousy, leave us to barrenness. This is to be dreaded
beyond all things!
My Brethren, it is a glorious thing to be weak, that we may have the
strength of God resting on us! It is a glorious thing to be poor and
mean and despised, that the Lord may take such weak instruments and get
unto Himself Glory by the use of them! But it is a grievous evil if in
the mid-day of prosperity, the Church should vex the Spirit of God by
self-confidence and cause Him to withdraw His sacred succors! Another
danger arises out of the pride of achievement. When men are beginning
to work for Christ, they feel that they cannot do anything without Him
and they trust in God to give them strength–and He answers their
humble cry and does great things by them. But when a good work is
worked, we
are apt to feel, "We have won our laurels. We have borne the burden and
the heat of the day and we may now rest." This is fatal to progress! We
shall do no more when we imagine that we have done enough!
You know the story of the painter who broke his palette, put down his
brush and told his wife that he would never paint again for the
artistic faculty had departed from him? When she enquired how he was
aware of the sad fact, he answered, "The last picture I produced
realized my ideal and satisfied me and, therefore, I am certain that I
have lost my power as a painter." It certainly is so that we are fit
for Christ's service only as long as we feel that we have as yet done
nothing and are merely at the beginning of our purposed service. Those
who pine for greater exploits have not yet spent themselves, but the
danger lies in saying, "I have finished my day's work. Soul, take your
ease." From my heart I dread the middle hour of life's day, both for
myself and you, for therein so many think it no ill, like the Italians,
to take a siesta, or mid-day sleep–and then it is that the enemy is
upon them!
There is, too, a pride of experience which is apt to grow upon churches
and individuals, like moss upon old trees, when men are "in the midst
of the years." They feel–"We are not now the young, simple, silly
people that we once were. We are not now to be overcome by temptation
or misled by error. We shall, beyond all doubt, remain sound in faith
and pure in life even to the end." It is from the egg of carnal
security that the canker worm of backsliding is hatched– therefore we
must mind what we are doing "in the midst of the years." Besides, I
think, dear Brethren, all Christians must be conscious that after a
continuance in doing well we are apt to be assailed by weariness.
Apart from our Lord's promised aid we faint–we die in the long race
which He has set before us. Labor leads to lassitude, and suffering to
impatience. Grace is needed to prevent the decays of Nature. When the
natural spirits sink, we grow depressed and complain that our warfare
is hard and our travail bitter. And with this there is apt to mingle a
sense of disappointment because we have not achieved all that our
sanguine hopes expected. We scarcely rejoice that something has been
done because so much remains unaccomplished! When the mind is thus
wearied, the spirit faints at the prospect of a further and, perhaps, a
heavier strain–and this makes the central regions of life wonderfully
trying to Zion's pilgrims. We are apt to be slack in the service of God
by reason of what we have already done, though, we must confess, that
is very little. Satan knows how to take advantage of our fainting
moments–to make cowards of us if he can. Therefore be aware of his
devices.
If we have stood like watchmen on the walls for years, the tendency is
to relax our vigilance. If we have borne a protest for many years, the
thought will suggest itself that it will be folly to be singular any
longer and wise to yield to the current of the times. Then the enemy
sneeringly whispers, "Who are you and what have you done with all your
testifying and separate walking and Puritanical precisions? All that
you have accomplished is insignificant enough! The world still lies in
the Wicked One and error is still rampant! Give up the battle, for you
cannot win!" In the midst of the years, what with weariness and lack of
faith, the heart is apt to yield to the infernal suggestion! Therefore,
Brothers and Sisters, let a mighty prayer go up from the whole Church
to our Redeemer God, "O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the
years, in the midst of the years make known."
II. Thus have I indicated the prophet's fear and now I would conduct
you, secondly, to consider THE PROPHET'S PRAYER–"O Lord, revive Your
work." His first request is for revival. He means, "Lord, put new life
into us. Your cause began with life, but the tendency of all around it
is to make it die, therefore, Lord, quicken it anew, give it another
birthday and restore all the force and energy of its first love. Give
us a new Pentecost, we beseech You! Give all the spiritual endowments
which came with the tongues of fire and so enrich us anew. Revive us!
Help us to begin again! Start us anew in life."
That is the petition and it seems to me to be one of the wisest
requests that ever fell even from a Prophet's lips! Let us use it.
Lord, now that we have been 25 years together, let us feel as fresh as
if the race were now beginning. Give us back the dew of our youth that
we may do our first works and something more. Let us have, with the
maturity of age, the freshness of youth! And let us run without
weariness in Your ways because Your Spirit has quickened us. Our
dependence is upon You, even for life itself! Breathe on us once more!
And that life, as I understand it, is to come upon God's people
themselves–"Revive Your work." What is God's work? Why, it is God's
people! For we are His workmanship!
True revival must first come upon the Churches themselves. In all
Churches there is much that is not God's work and we do not ask to have
it revived, but rather that it may be put away. But wherever there is
anything that is God's work– any of the mind of Christ any sincere
prayer, faith, hope, love, consecration–we earnestly cry, "O Lord,
revive Your
work." Only living saints are, in the exact sense of the word, capable
of revival–we can only revive those in whom life is already found. O
Lord, quicken Your people! He means God's work in each one of us, for
we each need revival–may the Lord send it to us now so that if gray
hairs are upon us here and there, and we know it not, we may become
young again through His free Spirit! If the fountain of our life runs
low, may the Lord touch the secret springs and flood us again with holy
zeal. To save us from the perils of "the midst of the years" we need to
have life anew imparted to us.
But the Prophet also refers to God's work by His people as well as in
them. May the Lord put new life into His cause. It is an awful thing to
see a dead Church. I have seen such a thing with my own eyes. I
remember very well preaching in a chapel where the Church had become
exceedingly low and somehow the very building looked like a sepulcher,
though crowded that one night by those who came to hear the preacher.
The singers drawled out a dirge while the members sat like mutes. I
found it hard preaching–there was no go in the sermon–I seemed to be
driving dead horses.
After the sermon I saw two deacons, the pillars of the Church, leaning
against the posts of the vestry door in a listless attitude and I said,
"Are you the deacons of this Church?" They informed me that they were
the only deacons and I remarked that I thought so. To myself I added
that I understood, as I looked at them, several things which otherwise
would have been a riddle. Here was a dead Church comparable to the ship
of the ancient mariner which was manned by the dead! Deacons, teachers,
minister, people–all dead–and yet wearing the semblance of life–
"The helmsman steered, the ship moved on,
Yet never a breeze up blew;
The mariners all began to work the ropes,
Where they were known to do.
They raised their limbs like lifeless tools
We were a ghastly crew."
May the Lord save us from becoming such a ghastly crew! Now, to prevent
our getting into that state, and we easily may–so that instead of
devotion there shall be routine and instead of life and energy there
shall be dead orthodoxy and dull propriety–we must cry, "O Lord,
revive Your work in the midst of the years."
The Prophet further asks for a fresh Revelation of the Lord–"In the
midst of the years make known." When You have made us live, then shall
we have power to know and, therefore, make Your Truth known to us. Did
he not intend by this petition that the Lord should make known that the
work was His own? "Revive Your work in the midst of the years make
known," that men may not say, "this was only an excitement which the
spirit of the people carried on for a few years," but may be forced to
confess that this is the finger of God because it continues and abides.
O Lord, in our case make the world know that it is Your work because
You do not forsake it!
Convert multitudes again! Build up the Church again! Increase the
people again! Multiply the joy again! Pour out the Holy Spirit upon
Your witnesses again with signs following! But I think he chiefly means
make known Yourself. In the midst of the years make known Yourself, O
Jehovah! Reveal in the midst of Your Church, Your power to save! Make
known the Person and Sacrifice of the Well-Beloved in whom Your Grace
and vengeance strangely join. Make known the power of the Holy Spirit
who convicts of sin and afterwards comforts by leading the sinner to
the Cross. Make known Yourself, Eternal Father, as You receive
prodigals into Your bosom and kiss them with the kiss of love and make
high festival concerning their return to You! The Prophet longed that
God would be seen in the midst of His people and this, above all
things, is our hearts' desire!
Oh, my Brothers and Sisters, it is vain and idle for us to think that
any good can come of human speech or human song or human worship of any
kind apart from God Himself being there! There must be supernatural
power put forth or men will never turn from darkness to light, nor rise
from death to life. What is the Church worth if the Lord is not known
in the midst of her? Write Ichabod upon her walls, for the Glory has
departed when her God has gone! The Prophet virtually prays that God
would do again for His Church what He did for her in the olden times.
We have just read the whole chapter–what a wonderful poem it is! We
can only, in a very prosaic way, condense its meaning.
First, with the Prophet, we exult in the manifestation of the Divine
Glory. "His Glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His
praise, and His brightness was as the light; He had horns coming out of
His hands." Thus was Jehovah seen and our heart's prayer is, "Lord,
show Yourself in this way again! Once more display Your Glory. Stretch
out Your hands which have the horns of power going forth from them.
Exalt Yourself in the conversion and the salvation of men that the
multitude may see how glorious is the Lord our God."
Observe how the Prophet speaks of God's power against His enemies. The
Midianites came up upon Israel in such numbers that, like grasshoppers,
they could not be counted. But the Lord smote them and utterly cut them
off. Hear how the Prophet describes their overthrow–"I saw the tents
of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did
tremble." And well they might, when Jehovah came forth to smite them!
Now our prayer is that the Lord would shine forth so gloriously in the
midst of His Church that the powers of superstition and skepticism may
be made to tremble at His Presence! I have looked upon their tents and
I have seen them multiplying their idols and their gods! I have looked
upon their curtains within which they have spoken proud words of carnal
wisdom against the Most High– and my heart has said, "Let the Lord
dwell in the midst of His people and manifest His power as in former
ages and these tents shall be in affliction and utterly pass away."
Moreover, the Prophet sees all Nature and Providence subservient to God
and so he grandly sings, "Was the Lord displeased against the rivers?
Was Your anger against the rivers? Was Your wrath against the sea that
You did ride upon Your horses and Your chariots of salvation? If God is
with His people, all things are on their side–the stars in the heavens
fight for them–the wheels of everlasting Providence full of eyes
revolve with watchful wisdom, working out purposes of benediction. "All
things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to His purpose." And all this, the Prophet says,
was done for the saving of His people! Pharaoh and his horses were
drowned in the sea, but as for Jehovah, when He went to save His
people, the seas could not overwhelm Him, "You did walk through the sea
with Your horses, through the heap of great waters."
Can you not see the horses and the chariot plowing through the midst of
the sea, while the Eternal King darts His arrows on either side that He
may deliver His people? This is the language of imagery, but the facts
surpass all poetry! God can be with a people and He can leave them–but
when He is with them, their power is exalted by His power and majesty
and the Truth which they uphold is as a banner borne aloft to
continuous victory! Only we must wait upon the Lord in prayer and seek
His face in faith, crying from our hearts, "O Lord, revive Your work in
the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known."
III. In the third place, let us consider THE PROPHET'S PLEA, that it
may be our own this morning. He had first this plea–"Lord, it is Your
work; therefore revive Your work." We take the words out of his mouth
and pray in like manner, "Lord, if this is our work, end it. If it is
man's work, break it down! But if it is Your work, revive it." Have we
not said unto our souls that we will preach and we will believe nothing
but what is revealed of God in the Scripture? Have we not promised we
will not yield one hair's breadth to the opposers of Revelation because
of their so-called science and thought? Is it not so?
We have lifted the old banner of our fathers and preached the doctrines
of the Grace of God where the very center is Christ crucified, a
Substitute for believing men! This has been our one theme, our staple
subject in preaching and ministering at all times. Now, Lord, if this
is not Your Truth, for Your name's sake, blight it and let us follow it
no more! But if it is Your Truth, set Your seal to it here and in every
other place where the name of Jesus is proclaimed! This is good
pleading! "It is Your work. We cannot do it! We will not attempt to do
it, but Lord, if it is Yours, You must do it–we hold You to it by
humble faith."
But the best plea is the one he mentions, "In wrath remember mercy."
That is a plea which suits all of us! Mercy, mercy, mercy! You might
well smite both the shepherd and the sheep, but have mercy! You might
well take away the candlestick and leave us in the darkness, but in
wrath remember mercy! You see the coldness of heart and the
inconsistency of life of some of Your professed people and You might,
therefore, give up Your Zion to desolation, but, Lord, remember mercy!
Remember it, for You know it, for mercy is a dear attribute of Yours.
Remember Your mercy in the Everlasting Covenant when You chose Your
people. Remember Your mercy in the seal of that Covenant when Your
only-begotten Son was given up to death! Remember all the mercy You
have had upon us these many years of our provocation! Remember mercy
and still favor us, not because we have any good thing in us or about
us that can deserve Your love, but for Your mercy's sake. Out of Your
free rich Sovereign Grace, for mercy's sake still "revive Your work in
the midst of the years." It is good pleading–be sure to use it.
One more plea is implied in the rest of the chapter, namely, "You have
worked great wonders, O Lord, do this again in the midst of the years."
Here have You heard our prayers. Lord, hear our prayers in the midst of
the years! Hear them now! Here have You helped the feeble against the
strong. Lord, strengthen us again! Here have You brought the chief of
sinners to Jesus' feet. Lord, do the same again! That is our prayer. By
all Your glorious marching through the wilderness when You led your
people and scattered their foes before them; when the rocks gave them
water and the heavens dropped with bread. By all the wonders of Your
Grace to Your people of old, since they are still Your people, "revive
Your work in the midst of the years."
With this I finish, observing that when the Prophet had pleaded and his
soul was at rest, he sat down and there were three things which
remained upon his mind. Peering into the future he saw the sheen of the
Chaldean helmets and the brightness of their cruel swords. He saw the
whole land turned into a wilderness–and as he watched, he saw that the
fig trees did not blossom, the vines brought forth no fruit, the olives
withered. He heard no lowing of cattle, bleating of sheep. He saw that
famine covered all the land and he said, "Lord, let it all come as I
have seen; but Your ways are everlasting, and in the thick darkness You
have always worked Your will. You have never been defeated and You have
never failed Your people. Therefore, as for me, I will rejoice in the
Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."
That is the posture in which I want you all to be found. We have been
assured by people who think they know a great deal about the future
that awful times are coming. Be it so. It need not alarm us, for the
Lord reigns! Stay yourself on the Lord, my Brothers and Sisters, and
you can rejoice in His name. If the worst comes to the worst, our
refuge is in God! If the heavens shall fall, the God of Heaven will
stand! When God cannot take care of His people under Heaven, He will
take them above the heavens and there shall they dwell with Him!
Therefore, as far as you are concerned, rest, for you shall stand in
your lot at the end of the days.
And then there came over Habakkuk a second spirit. Now, he said, seeing
God has worked all these wonders of old, and is capable of doing them
over again, I will go back to my work despite the lowering clouds, for,
"the Lord God is my strength and He will make my feet like does'
feet"–like the gazelle's feet upon the crags of the mountains–"and He
will make me to walk upon my high places." O for this assurance of
safety and strength in the Lord! We are in the middle passage, but if
we have faith in God all is safe! We may go and leap in our duties over
the mountains and the hills and not be afraid that our foot shall slip!
We fall without our God, but with God our feet shall never slide! He
keeps the feet of His saints and when the wicked shall be silent in
darkness, then shall the strength of the Lord be seen! Having thus felt
that he could always trust God whatever might happen and that he should
be upheld whatever might occur, what does Habakkuk say? He goes home
about his business and what is the one business he is set upon? He
indicates it in his last sentence, which is not a sentence at all, but
the final words of his prayer. "To the chief singer on my stringed
instruments." He seems to say, "All that remains for me is but to love
and sing and wait until the angels come to bear me to their King." "All
that I have to do, now," he seems to say, and I want you to say the
same, "is just to feel that all is safe in the Eternal hands."
As for me–
"I'll praise Him while He lends me breath, And when my voice is lost in
death, Praise shall employ my nobler powers! My days of praise shall
never be past, While life, and thought, and being last,
Or immortality endures."
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Crowning Blessings Ascribed to God