Episode 9: Surprising Joy (3:17-19)
Coming at the end of Habakkuk’s vision of our mighty, powerful God who brings judgement and salvation, these verses depict the devastation brought by the God’s justice. And then Habakkuk’s surprising joy despite his surroundings.
Here is the Open Doors watchlist for praying for persecuted Christians around the world
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How do these verses surprise us given all that we've read so far?
How can Habakkuk have joy? Where is he looking and what does he know?
How can we be fighting to have joy given all that we've read in Habakkuk?
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The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Sarah: This podcast is sponsored by 10ofthose.com. 10ofthose.com handpick the best Christian books that point to Jesus and sell them at discounted prices. The more you buy, the cheaper they get. Check them out after the episode. Hello, everyone.
Felicity: Welcome to word fuelled hearts. I'm Felicity, and I'm in America. And this is Sarah. She's in the UK.
Sarah: Hi, everyone.
Felicity: Nice to be with you today. Sarah, how is your cup of tea? I've noticed, actually, that you're holding a familiar cup because I think you decorate it when you are quite a lot younger than you are now.
Sarah: Yeah, it's true. I decorated it when I was seven and I'm still holding it in my hand. It's still my favourite cup, which it's got shells on. I like it. It's a good, thin rimmed, decent sized cup. Also holding possibly one of the cheapest biscuits. Yes. Again, my reflection is that I seem to have bought Aldi's cheapest biscuits the whole season of this podcast. Would you agree?
Felicity: Well, yes, I was actually going to comment on that because I feel like you're slightly squandering the opportunity you have that you have aisles of biscuit choices in your nation and you are choosing the cheapest dregs of the biscuits.
Sarah: I didn't intend to for this one, but the thing is, I went to my cupboard this morning and realized I didn't actually have any biscuits and the only thing that I have is this. It's a pink wafer biscuit. And I've got it because it's going to be a door on my daughter's birthday cake, which is going to be a castle, and got it to try to make the doors. You see, that's an impressive thing, that.
Felicity: You'Re making a castle for your daughter's cake. The actual biscuit is entirely unimpressive.
Sarah: So unimpressive. And it's one of those biscuits where you eat it and you're like, am I just eating something or not? Because I know I put something in my mouth, but I can't I have this no sustainable whatsoever through that. But hopefully it's going to look excellent as the castle doors.
Felicity: Oh, I have no doubt. It might even match the artistic decoration on your cup.
Sarah: It's quite a fresher with twins, you've got to make two birthday cakes, and I'm feeling that.
Felicity: Yeah.
Sarah: But I think you are probably drinking classy tea. If any of the other episodes are anything to go by, tell us, what have you got in your car?
Felicity: Well, yes, actually, it's quite classy. I'm actually drinking tea that is called Betty's Tea Room tea, and if anyone who's listening is familiar with the north, he might well have been to Betty's Tea Room. It's like the smartest place to have a cup of tea and a nice scone or cake. Scone. Americans. And not what you're thinking in a casserole sense, but more of I guess actually, that's more of an English biscuit. No, an American biscuit kind of thing. Anyway, Betty's Tea Room is a classy place to have a cup of tea. And we got given a box of Betty's Tea Room tea bags and it's actually very good. I was a little skeptical because it's not your classic Yorkshire brew, but enjoyable.
Sarah: So good. How long for the day when we can go to a tea shop again?
Felicity: Yeah, I know. We've got two big things to do. I mean, the biggest thing by far is to get into have a cook and to dig into that. But before then sarah, what is our big news?
Sarah: We have some big news. Well, the big news, quite simply, is that we have decided to change our name. So we are currently word fueled hearts and it's been a little bit of a tongue twister to keep saying in our introduction. Also, it turns out that in America, you don't even spell it the way that we spelled it. So there's been a little bit of confusion and we're really sorry about that. It's ended up we didn't rethink about this as much as we could have done. So drumroll, please. We are changing our name to Two Sisters. Anna cup of tea. Do you want to tell us why?
Felicity: Yes, it's simple. It says what we're doing. We are two sisters and a cup of tea. But what we really like is that when we say sisters, we're thinking, any two, three, five. How many women who would love to be getting together over a cup of tea and opening up the Bible? And hopefully it is encouraging people to do that. We've just been so encouraged by the way that people are listening. I mean, that's maybe why we didn't think about the name so much, because we didn't really think that people would listen. And they are.
Sarah: And people are encouraged.
Felicity: And so we're thinking we're two sisters with a cup of tea, but we're really praying that there would be many sisters opening up the Word together over a cup of tea or a coffee or your classic hot water, whatever it may be. So, two sisters and a cup of tea. And we're thinking, as well, it's got a slightly broader appeal, maybe it's just not quite as niche, but more people might find it more accessible.
Sarah: Yeah. So in the coming week, our Instagram and Facebook, and the podcast itself, will be changing its name and there'll be new colors coming out as well. And so what you need to do as listeners is, if you haven't yet subscribed and you're enjoying listening to this, please subscribe this week so that as the name changes, you won't lose us. Coming up, popping up on your feed. Is that all you need to do? I think it is, isn't it?
Felicity: That's it. And Instagram and Facebook will just kind of change. And if you're following us on that, you'll just stick with following us. That will all be fine, won't it?
Sarah: Yeah. Come and find us if you don't see us. Yeah.
Felicity: Two sisters and a cup of tea. Should we get on with herbacock?
Sarah: Let's do that. Would you like to read for us?
Felicity: Sure. Okay. We are in chapter three and we're reading verses 17 through to 19. Though the fig tree does not bud, and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food. Though there are no sheep in the sheepfold and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God, my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to tread on the heights with the director of music on my stringed instrument.
Sarah: Thanks very much, Christie. I guess it's really sad that we've come to the end of Half a Cookie, but again, there's so much in three verses, isn't there? And I'm excited to get stuck into it. Can you give a quick kind of, wellwind, tour, what do you call it?
Felicity: Debrief of what's happened so far?
Sarah: Whatever. Give us your 1 minute summary of not even having.
Felicity: The pressure. Okay, so we're in chapter three still. And chapter three, if you remember, has been this song, this poem that's been showing us a mighty powerful God, and it's a revelation to Habakkuk of God himself coming to judge and to save. And that's in response to all the way through Habakkuk, we've had Habakkuk asking, bringing his lament, his heartfelt, please, to the Lord about his longing for justice. And God is saying, I'm doing it, I'm bringing it, it's going to happen through the Babylonians.
Sarah: What?
Felicity: Not the Babylonians. God says, yes, through the Babylonians, but I am also going to bring justice upon them as well. And then we get to chapter three. And Sarah, you and I were just saying how wonderful that God does speak to us through a song as much as through just simple words. It feels like he's really speaking into our hearts and dealing with our emotions as much as he is our kind of intellectual faculties as well. So as we hit our bit today, it's anticipation of the reality that actually this exile, the Babylonian invasion and the consequent exile is going to happen. It seems to be a picture of the devastation that is going to come as the Babylonians sweep in. And so it's a habitat kind of seeing that and then yet another yet. We had a yet last time, didn't we? But this one yet I will rejoice.
Sarah: Thank you. That's super helpful. Let's dig into what actually says about what is going to happen then, because I think it's easy for these words to kind of roll off our tongue and go, well, it's okay, the victory is not going to bug with you. Or that's okay, there's no any great. I like apples as well. I don't really even like all this, so I'd be fine with that.
Felicity: Yeah.
Sarah: Very easy to read this and go, oh, yeah, okay. But actually, what is Habitat saying here? What is he saying? He's saying, well, essentially, there's going to be no food. Well, it does actually say that, doesn't it? The fields produce no food, nothing will burn, nothing will grow, everything will fail. There are no animals, there's nothing. There's complete devastation. Babylon are going to completely destroy everything in every way. There would be nothing.
Felicity: Yeah, it seems no provision for the people. It would feel like that they've just been abandoned. I think that would be the sense, this kind of abandonment and that this marauding force are coming in, but then also they're destroying all of their livelihood. So your future must look like, well, how are we going to have any future? What is this going to look like as we go forward? And this is what God has said, isn't it? That is what God said is going to happen. Back in chapter two. Chapter one, was it when the Lord said, this is what's going to happen? So it's not that it's a surprise, but actually the reality of that is pretty stark, isn't it?
Sarah: It's so bleak. And I think in our Western comfortable mindset, I think it's very hard to grasp the seriousness, the gravity of this kind of culture, where your fields and your animals and everything actually everything. It's such a bleak picture, isn't it? Last week we got to the end we got to the end of verse 16, and Habakkuk said, yes, I will wait patiently for the day of calamity. And so we're basically in this kind of two part response here, aren't we, at the end of this book, where he's saying, I will wait. And then in verse 18, having described the devastation that's going to be caused, he responds by saying, yet I will rejoice. So he's got, yes, I will wait, and then, yes, I will rejoice. That just sounds absolutely bonkers, doesn't it? Rejoice in the same breath as life is going to be completely destroyed.
Felicity: Yeah, that's the surprise, isn't it? I think an immediate question that we have as readers is how Habakku can you possibly be someone who rejoices? And I think the temptation to think is, well, Habakkut must just be maybe he's ignoring his circumstances, or maybe he's just kind of skating over them, or is he kind of a bit stoic? Is he just kind of grinning and bearing it and just thinking, I just need to rejoice. But I think there's more to it than that, isn't it? And I think part of it is a large part of it is that he's looking back and seeing who God is, seeing who the God who he trusts is. And in that he's saying that God said he'd bring justice and he does bring justice. And so there's a trustworthiness to his word, to God's word. But also there's a I think we've talked all the way through about this heartfelt lament of Habakkuk and how challenging that is to us. Do we really long for justice in that way? Habakkuka has been longing for justice and just crying out for it, and here we see that justice will come. There is a certainty that justice and it must just be a relief to that. Like, I can rest in the knowledge that justice is going to come from the Lord.
Sarah: Yeah, I think that's really helpful for Steve. It's also really sobering, isn't it? Because that justice will come at the expense of probably like, a lot of their lives. Yeah, I'm assuming most of them don't actually come out of this. And so that is really sobering, isn't it, that he's longing for that and he's going to say it's going to happen and yet he will rejoice because as you say, he's rejoicing in the Lord. He's rejoicing in the character and the trustworthiness of his God. And I think it's really poignant. You get to the end of these verses and it's saying, I will be joyful in God, my Savior, the sovereignty, my strength. This is the whole way through. It's been a very personal event to have a kick, hasn't it? It's been very heartfelt questions, answers, response. And that summed up again here. My savior, my strength. At the end of the day, this isn't just an abstract God that I've been told about. This is my personal faith, trust in this big guard. I think that's really striking that he's written this. So Habakkuk has written this response. He's written this song, and we know that it's a song because it says at the end for the director of music, we presume it's for the congregation, it's for the people of God to sing. So he's like married the two, hasn't he? He's like this is absolutely his personal response to see and heard of the Lord. But he's writing that down and proclaiming that so that others can respond like this and kind of train their hearts to respond like this. So when the people of God go into exile and when they're feeling like completely hopeless and at the end they actually come to these words and they sing them and start to remind themselves of the truth of who God is, would you say that is what yeah, I think that's right.
Felicity: I think that's right, isn't it? So his personal lament and delight in the Lord as he's allowing others to hear it and to know it, so he's helping them to see the same, to feel the same, to trust in the same way. I think we just need to just dig in a little bit to the fact he says, I will be joyful in God, my Savior, and actually I will rejoice in the Lord. So the Lord being Yahweh, the covenant God, the one who does deliver and rescue his people all the way through scripture and the God my Savior. That's going back to the start. Chapter three, we had in Wrath and Mercy and then in verse 13 we had you came out to deliver your people, to save you and I'll the way through. We have this relief at the justice that's coming, but we also have the delight that God is saving his people and so have a cookies resting in both of those things. And as you say. As he's sharing that joy. Sharing that trust with people. We have this suddenly we're able to understand. I think. A bit more as to how joy could be the response to that because there's a security and ultimately we see that in the cross. Really. That we have the judgment that falls on Jesus and we have the mercy that falls through that. That we might be safe in Jesus.
Sarah: Yeah, definitely. And I think as we come to then apply this to our own hearts and really drive at home, that's really helpful in just saying that actually what matters at the end of the day for Habakkuk and for us, but to a lesser extent for us, when everything is stripped back, when there is nothing left, actually he can still rejoice in God, His Savior. I think what really brings that home in these verses is that he actually quotes a bit of Psalm 18 at the end here in verse 19. But Psalm 18, these words are spoken in victory. It's a style of victory in battle, but how about it's not in victory here, he's in real weakness, like he's a moment of real devastation. And yet he says the same words that the Lord is my strength. And I think that just really brings it home. That when everything is stripped back, actually, who is it like what's left is the shining bright light of God, His Savior, his strength. And that's good, that's good for us, isn't it? Because actually it makes us reassess when seasons of life are stripped back, when things feel very hard, when we don't quite understand what's going on and why a particular suffering is happening, we can come back to these verses and go, okay, the shining light of God, my Savior is shining all the more bright because of this. Because actually I haven't got anything else to cling onto.
Felicity: Yes. And I think that's right because God in his saving, in his justice doesn't change, whereas our circumstances do change all the time. And so we come back to this and I think that's where the deliberateness of I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God, my Savior. I think Habakkuk is like deciding, he's like, this is who God is, this is who I trust, this is what I know of Him, therefore I will be joyful. And that means that when we don't feel joyful and joyful is different to happiness, isn't it? Not that we're just like happy go lucky or whatever, just be happy, whatever, but actually that deep seated joy because we know God and we trust God and ultimately the heartbeat of Abaco, he's living by faith and as he lives by faith so he's able to choose joy because it's anchored.
Sarah: Yeah. And we get to the end of habituk and this is what it is to live by faith, isn't it? If he lives by sight, well, everything around him is completely destroyed and devastated and is fairly hopeless. But living by faith enjoyed. He waits and he's heard the Lord and he has responded with faith and wow, that makes me just want to pray. I just want to be like Habitat. I have that heart of faith. And actually this has been really helpful. I've been praying through the Open Doors watch list this week the last couple of weeks. And just again praying this for our brothers and sisters in different parts of the world who are completely in places devastated and persecuted. Again praying that in for them. We need to pray for you. Would you pray for me to write?
Felicity: Absolutely. Heavenly Father, we praise you so much that we can know you and we can trust you. And as we read have a Cook, we can be all the more sure that you are a God who brings justice and salvation. And as we see that, would you help us to be those who are joyful in you? We pray you so much that we have you are unchanging God and so we can have joy in this way and we pray that we trip our hearts more and more this week. Amen. We need to wrap up Sarah. Remember, no longer word fueled hearts but two sisters and a cup of tea.
Sarah: That's right. And then we've got one more final episode next week. So next week is our Ask US Anything episode so please tune in for that as we wrap up, have a cook and thinking through some of the stuff that we've been talking about and answering any of your questions. Thanks so much for tuning in today and we'll see you next time.
Felicity: See you next time.
Sarah: Bye bye. Bye. You've been listening to words to your heart this podcast is sponsored by Tenovo's. Com, an online retailer of the best Christian books at discounted prices. Check them out now@tenovos.com you.
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