Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Series on the Book of Habakkuk

Scripture: Hab. 3: 16-19 Jan.18, 2026

Message: “Bad Times and Joyful Expectations!”

By Pastor George Gnade

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Introduction: 1. As most of you know, we have been studying the Book of Habakkuk in which the prophet keeps asking questions and God keeps giving him answers.

2. Habakkuk was upset because the evil nation of Babylon was going to invade Judah and be allowed to destroy the temple and the city.

a. He could not understand why God would use an evil nation to destroy other nations that comparatively speaking were better than they were.

b. God’s answer was that people who choose evil over good were basically being allowed to receive the very evil they thought they wanted.

c. If they really preferred the ways of the devil, then God was going to allow the devil to punish them. Babylon was the wicked nation God chose to do this. 

3. That led Habakkuk to ask what would happen to Babylon, how long could this wicked nation keep killing and destroying every nation in its path? Of course, Habakkuk knew Judah was one of the nations in its path.

a. In chapter two, the Lord said that every nation that Babylon attacked would someday rise up and get even.

b. He gave His word this would surely happen. But in the meantime, those who loved the Lord had to live by faith.

4. That brings us to Hab. 3:1-15 where these first 15 verses are devoted to the power of God.

a. This chapter clearly refers to this chapter as a prayer. As Habakkuk prays, he begins by recalling all the great acts of God from the past.

b. It includes creation, the flood, the victory of Moses and the people of Israel over the Egyptians, even the victory of Joshua over the Canaanites when the sun stood still. Most of the language used is symbolic but there is no doubt as to its intent.

5. This is a great lesson for us to remember. In hard times, look backward to all the great victories of God from the past. This includes all the great stories given to us in the Bible itself, but it also includes all the wonderful answers to prayer that you yourself are aware of from your own life.

6. That is exactly what Habakkuk was doing in Hab. 3:1-15.

This brings us to vs. 16-19. In my opinion, these last three verses are some of the most meaningful verses in the Bible.

We are going to study them this morning.

A. We will begin with vs 16 in which Habakkuk anticipates the coming of the Babylonians and their attack on Judah.

1. Habakkuk writes: “I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones and my legs trembled” (vs. 16a).

a. Have you ever been that upset? That scared? 

b. Have your legs ever trembled like that?

2. I have had a few experiences that have come close to it.  I know God’s Word tells us not to worry, but to cast our care on Him. But in situations like that, how do you quiet your heart?

3. Of course, nothing can compare to the cross of Christ where he not only experienced the hatred of men, but the punishment of God for our sins.

a. He begged His disciples to pray for Him. Three times He came back and found them sleeping. He was deeply disappointed in them. He said: “Couldn’t you uphold me in prayer for even one hour?”

b. In Luke, we are told Jesus sweat as it were drops of blood in preparation for His trial and crucifixion. None of us will ever go through what Jesus went through.

4. But there are extreme situations that truly test the souls of men. When the destruction of Jerusalem was all over, Jeremiah wrote the Book of Lamentations which describes the tears he shed. Hab. 3:16 describes the fear that Habakkuk experienced as he waited for the Babylonians to come.

a. In Hab. 3:16b, he wrote: “Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.”

b. God’s punishment against Jerusalem was a terrible time. But God’s punishment against Babylon was also guaranteed. 

5. There are many very difficult times that God allows Christians to go through. Sometimes we have brought it on ourselves. And sometimes, like with Jesus, our sufferings come from the enemy of our souls. 

a. But we must never forget the end of the story. Just as Jesus was raised from the dead, so all God’s martyrs will be raised up too. 

b. In faith, we must hang on in faith to the end of the story. The Bible guarantees us there is victory in Jesus.

B. Hab. 3: 17-19 share with us the lesson Habakkuk learned that we need to learn too.

1. He wrote: “Though the fig tree does not bud, and there are no grapes on the vine, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen nor cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

2. This verse expresses one of the most difficult things to explain, how you can be sad and joyful at the same time.

a. As Paul put it in Phil. 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.”

b. Yes, in faith we can always rejoice in the Lord. No one can take the Lord from you. As He Himself promised: “I will be with you always, even to the end of this age (Matt. 28:20).

C. Finally, Habakkuk explains the difference between those who trust in the Lord and those who don’t. 

1. In vs. 19, he wrote: “The Sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; He enables me to go on the heights.”

a. God can give the Christian a strength he himself does not have. How many times have you heard a Christian say: “I never could have gone through this without the help of the Lord”?

b. Jesus can enable us to climb mountains. In the end, we can say with the Apostle Paul: “I can do all things through Christ who strengths me” (Phil. 4:13). Or “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purposes” (Rom. 8:28). 

2. It has amazed me how often I myself have gone through a very difficult time, but in the end I discover the purpose behind it all. Beloved, always remember, God has a plan. That plan is “good, acceptable, and perfect” (Rom. 12:2).

In Conclusion: 1. Let me close with another verse I like found in Is. 40:31. It says: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like the eagles; they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

2. This life is full of hard times. In that sense, it is like the rose bush with its thorns. But the flowers are beautiful. May God help us to trust in Him and cling to the joy of knowing the Lord. Amen!