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“Though the Fig Tree Should Not Blossom” (Habakkuk 3:17-19) A long time ago, as a young man, I decided to go backpacking in the Sierra Mountains of California. I had cousins who lived in Fresno, so I went out there and stayed with them for a couple days before heading up to the mountains. They had an above-ground swimming pool, and there were some fig trees right alongside the edge of the pool, within arm’s reach. So here I am, on a nice sunny California day, swimming around in a swimming pool, picking these delicious figs right off the tree...

A 1,500 year old mosaic, depicting a map with streets and buildings, was exposed about two years ago in archaeological excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority conducted together with school children and employees from the Qiryat Gat Industrial Park... This extraordinary mosaic served as the floor of a church dating to the Byzantine period. It was removed from the site for the purpose of conservation and was recently returned to its permanent location in the industrial park. The mosaic will be revealed to the public for the first time at the “Factories from Within” festival to be held October 1, during...

“A Very Ferguson Thanksgiving” (Habakkuk 1:2-4, 9-11; 3:17-19)I’m sure many of us were watching on our televisions the other night when we saw what was supposed to be a peaceful protest in Ferguson suddenly and not unexpectedly turn quite unpeaceful. Looters started breaking store windows and stealing what they could get their hands on. Arsonists began to torch buildings and cars and burn them to the ground. Rioters were running wild and not much was being done to stop them. Now suppose you were one of those business owners whose store was looted or burned. Or maybe you worked at...

http://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/providence_god_in_control/providence The Psalmist asked, “Why do the wicked prosper, while the righteous suffer?” The prophet Habakkuk asked virtually the same question in his day as he witnessed his homeland overrun with the invading armies of the Chaldeans. Initially, from Habakkuk’s perspective, he did not see God’s hand in the suffering of his people. Where was the Judge of all the earth during this time of injustice, he wondered. Here Dr. Sproul explains how God’s providence and suffering go hand and hand.

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - December 12 -------------------------------- Morning Devotional "His ways are everlasting." - Habakkuk 3:6 What he hath done at one time, he will do yet again. Man's ways are variable, but God's ways are everlasting. There are many reasons for this most comforting truth: among them are the following-the Lord's ways are the result of wise deliberation; he ordereth all things according to the counsel of his own will. Human action is frequently the hasty result of passion, or fear, and is followed by regret and alteration; but nothing can take the Almighty by surprise, or happen...

How many people in need of a message of comfort during tough times turn to the book of Habakkuk? I am perhaps less spiritual than most for I do not think immediately of this wonderful book. For starters a man with a weird name wrote it and secondly it is in a weird section of the Bible. By this I mean that every person that has tried and failed to read the Bible through, a wonderful thing we should all strive to do multiple times a year in my opinion, has failed somewhere between the begats and Numbers. The general...

God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden. Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps. He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal. Habakkuk 3:3-5 (FYI: According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, Teman was originally the name of a tribe and then of a district of the Edomites. The Temanites were famed...

LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. Habakkuk 3:2b This is an interesting and overlook-able four words right in the midst of Habakkuk's prayer to God. First he praises God for his awesome deeds, asks Him to make those deeds known, then he takes a twist and asks God to have mercy when He's doling out His wrath. It's almost as if Habakkuk's saying, "go easy on those who can't really see your awesome deeds!" Contrast...

LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. Habakkuk 3:2 A number of years ago I saw a simple Ziggy cartoon. Ziggy was on a cliff watching a brilliant sunrise and said, "Go God! Do it again." In childlike faith, the cartoon character expressed what we often want to say. "God, you are awesome!" This is the essence of Habakkuk's prayer. Like Ziggy, Habakkuk is saying, "you did it before, there’s no reason why you can’t or...

You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed! The cup from the LORD's right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed man's blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. "Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes...

"Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin! You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. "Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime! Has not the LORD Almighty determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? For the earth will be filled with...

I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Habakkuk 2:1 Have you ever had burning questions that you needed God to answer: who will I marry? What will my career be like 10 years from now? Should I join the military? Which college should I go to? Those answers are rarely cut and dried for us. Unfortunately, we don't hear a voice from heaven saying "do this!" I’m not even sure we’d want that deep...

They [Babylonians] are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like a vulture swooping to devour; they all come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; they build earthen ramps and capture them. Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—guilty men, whose own strength is...

Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own. Habakkuk 1:5-6 This is God's response to Habakkuk's complaint. God was raising up a very specific group of people who were feared and hated among God's people. Think about that. It was almost as if God were saying, "Yes, Habakkuk, you see evil now but wait until...

The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received: How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore, the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. Habakkuk 1:1-4 How many times this year have you felt this way?? This opening passage could have easily been written last week. Habakkuk...

“Revival! June 1- June 6th — Special singing each night.” How often we have observed similar advertisements in front of various churches. Also we have seen such wording in the media announcing the special meeting. Because of this type of promotion, the average American would equate having a special meeting with revival. But, is this a true definition? When the late missionary Dr. James A. Stewart first came to the U.S.A. from Scotland, he spotted such a sign in front of a church. He was riding on a bus at the time and was excited by a sign that...