The Pulpit Commentary — Habakkuk — Section 70

or Rn Rngel's wing; and so our sorrows, when interpreted in the light of this gracious design of our God, become changed into blessings. 'rhe thought that God is witl, us in our darkest experiences, working for our salvation and to secure to us tlw highest good, that the narrow path through which he, our Captain, causes us to fight our way will bring us to " the prize of our high calling," is indeed inspiring, ancl grasping it we may well press on, raising high our banners, and cheering the way aIJ<l tho conflict with music and song. III. THE GOOD, THUS RESTING IN Goo AND APPREHENDING Ills GRACIOUR DESIG,, DEING RENDERED TRANQUIL AND 'l'RIUMPHANT AND INSPIRED WITH HOLY JOY, '' Yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy," etc. (ver. 18). The joy of the wicked ceases when the fig trees cease to blossom, and the vines to yield their fruit (Hos. ii. 11, 12), for it lies upon the surface; but the joy of the holy lies deep in the soul, and is a seLtie(l and abiding possession, and triumphs under the darkest circumstances of lire. lllus- trations: David (Pa. xlii. 7-9); .Asa.ph (Ps. lxxiii. 2, 24, 25); Paul and Silas (Act8 xvi. 25). Resting in God and apprehending bis loving working in our life-experiences, he will prove himself our Strength and Song, and will become our Salvation.-S. D. H. Ver. 19 (first cla.use).-God our Strength. "The Lord God is my Strength." I. THE LORD Goo IS OUR STRENGTH IN THE CONFLICT WITH SIN. Men are drawn into sin in the hope of securing some personal gratification; they yearn after some unatta.ined good, some unrealized satisfaction, and they yield to the enticements of evil in the hope of securing that for which they are thus craving. But the man whose •hope is in God, and to whom he is bis "exceediug joy," has parted with these earthly yearnings; in proportion as the higher and the eternal has gained an influence over 'him, this attachment to the lower and the fleeting has been rooted out. With hearts uncentred from the true God, the Chaldeans craved worldly dominion, and in seekin:i; this "rejoiced to devour the poor secretly" (ver. 14), whereas Habakkuk with God as his Portion was as unaffected by the vanities of earth a.s dwellers inland are by the noise of the distant sea. So the good, rejoicing in God, are unallured by the baits of temptation, and are rendered strong to war against evil. II. THE LORD Goo IS OUR STRENGTH IN THE MIDST OF THE ADVERSE SCEl,-ES OF LIFE. Man, seeking his satisfaction in earthly things, must be feeble indeed when these fail him, since, with thoughts and affections centred in these, as they depart they leave him without comfort and in a state of orphanage. But he who has sought and found his satisfaction in God has remaining with him, when things seen and temporal have taken their flight, the unseen and the eternal to cheer and gladden his soul. Hence he is strong, and in the light of the Divine teaching and the Divine love can calmly look at his sorrows until, interpreted thus, they become to him light afflictions which are but for a moment, and which work for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. III. THE LORD GoD IS OUB STRENGTH IN HOLY SEBVIOE. Such service is ever attended with difficulties and discouragements, and it is only as we lift up our eyes to the everlasting hills, rejoicing in God and becoming strengthened by him, that we can grapple with these and overcome them. It was this prophet's strong faith and delight in his God that enabled him to prove himself so true a witness in the corrupt age in which his lot was cast. It has ever been the case tha.t the men who have been the most effective workers for God have been the men to whom his living Presence has been an intense reality. IV. 'l'HE LORD Goo WILL 0ONTINUE TO BE THE STRENGTH OF HIS PEOPLE WHEN THEIR TIME OF BERVI0E SHALL 0LOBE. Whether this prophet lived to see the devasta.- tion of his country which he pr~dicted, we cannot tell, the accounts of his life being so meagre and for the most part apocryphal. We know, however, that, from the state of mental doubt and distress in which he was when he commenced his prophecy ( eh. i. 2), he fought his way to unswerving trust in God ; for his brief prophecy, opening with the expression of his ardent yearning for more light in reference to the mystery of God's ways, closes with notes of triumphant confidence and hope. Often, doubtless, as his faith became strengthened, did he feel himself in life to be so rnisen and elevated through his hope and joy in God, as to be like the hind bounding joyously to the high places; and raised above the tumults of earth, though not in heaven, yet in "heavenly  THE BOOK OJ1' HABAKKUK. [orr. m. 1-19,