A prayer of Habakkuk
Aug 9, 2026 · 36 min · 9 segments
Habakkuk 3 Watch online: https://youtu.be/AH2zx03aM6o?si=OKzhVEBhf44znDFs
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Aug 9, 2026 · 36 min · 9 segments
Habakkuk 3 Watch online: https://youtu.be/AH2zx03aM6o?si=OKzhVEBhf44znDFs
But when life tumbles in, what then? That was the title of a sermon that a man called Arthur Gossip gave in Aberdeen in the church where he was pastor in 1927.
And the significance of this sermon was it, it was the first one that he preached after his wife, who'd been very well, suddenly died, leaving him a widower and his children without a mother.
And he began by asking the congregation, "How would you cope when out of nowhere some terrible circumstance occurs?" He continued, "For years and years you and I go our sunny way and live our happy lives, and the rumor of these terrors are blown to us very faintly as from a world so distant that it seems to have nothing to do with us.
And then to us too it happens.
When life tumbles in, what then?" He then said that the most difficult thing he'd found as a preacher was the fact that he'd lived a comparatively easy life, and he used to imagine as he preached, urging people to keep trusting when the storms and the winds and the waves attacked the congregation members, he imagined them saying to themselves, "Well, it's easy for old Gossip to say li- things like that in the calm comfort of his easy life." Then he paused and said, "I don't think anyone will challenge my right to speak today." And he reminded them of a story that they would have very well known from their Scottish history about the martyrdom of a man called John Brown of Priest Hill, a Scottish Covenanter in the 17th century, who would not compromise on his principles.
And the result was an English redcoat shot him in front of his wife and children, and then this cruel soldier turned to the widow and said, "What do you think of your husband now?" And she replied, "I always thought much of my husband.
I think much more of him now." And Gosse then spoke about the immeasurable comfort he'd received in his great distress through his faith.
He said, "I always thought much of Christ.
I think more of him, much more of him now." And he described how in the context of agonizing tears, he had been immeasurably comforted by the presence, and power, and promises of God.
You know anything about Habakkuk? He's a prophet of God speaking at the end of the seventh century BC, and it's a terrible time in the land of Judah.
He begins his book reflecting on the horrors that he sees everywhere.
There's amoral lawlessness.
And so the book begins without any kind of simple introduction.
It just gets straight in with his heart cry.
Verse two, "How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?" There's violence and injustice on every side, and God seems to do nothing.
Verse three, "Why?" Which is a question, of course, that we've asked ourselves, "Why, Lord? Why don't you do something?" That's how the book begins.
I'm gonna raise up the Babylonians, and the Babylonians will act in judgment against my people, the people of Judah." If Habakkuk's first complaint is, "God, why don't you do something?" His second complaint is, "Why are you doing that?" Because that seems worse than doing nothing.
Because these wicked Babylonians are worse than the wickedness that Habakkuk saw in the land of Judah.
How does this make sense? Why are you doing that? And Habakkuk waits.
He's waiting for an answer, and he says, effectively, "I'm going nowhere until I get an answer." Chapter two, verse one, "I will stand at my wash- watch and station myself on the ramparts.
I will look to see what he will say to me and w- what answer I am to give to this complaint." And chapter two, God finally speaks.
He replies.
But when life tumbles in, what then? That was the title of a sermon that a man called Arthur Gossip gave in Aberdeen in the church where he was pastor in 1927.
And the significance of this sermon was it, it was the first one that he preached after his wife, who'd been very well, suddenly died, leaving him a widower and his children without a mother.
And he began by asking the congregation, "How would you cope when out of nowhere some terrible circumstance occurs?" He continued, "For years and years you and I go our sunny way and live our happy lives, and the rumor of these terrors are blown to us very faintly as from a world so distant that it seems to have nothing to do with us.
And then to us too it happens.
When life tumbles in, what then?" He then said that the most difficult thing he'd found as a preacher was the fact that he'd lived a comparatively easy life, and he used to imagine as he preached, urging people to keep trusting when the storms and the winds and the waves attacked the congregation members, he imagined them saying to themselves, "Well, it's easy for old Gossip to say li- things like that in the calm comfort of his easy life." Then he paused and said, "I don't think anyone will challenge my right to speak today." And he reminded them of a story that they would have very well known from their Scottish history about the martyrdom of a man called John Brown of Priest Hill, a Scottish Covenanter in the 17th century, who would not compromise on his principles.
And the result was an English redcoat shot him in front of his wife and children, and then this cruel soldier turned to the widow and said, "What do you think of your husband now?" And she replied, "I always thought much of my husband.
I think much more of him now." And Gosse then spoke about the immeasurable comfort he'd received in his great distress through his faith.
He said, "I always thought much of Christ.
I think more of him, much more of him now." And he described how in the context of agonizing tears, he had been immeasurably comforted by the presence, and power, and promises of God.
You know anything about Habakkuk? He's a prophet of God speaking at the end of the seventh century BC, and it's a terrible time in the land of Judah.
He begins his book reflecting on the horrors that he sees everywhere.
There's amoral lawlessness.
And so the book begins without any kind of simple introduction.
It just gets straight in with his heart cry.
Verse two, "How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?" There's violence and injustice on every side, and God seems to do nothing.
Verse three, "Why?" Which is a question, of course, that we've asked ourselves, "Why, Lord? Why don't you do something?" That's how the book begins.
I'm gonna raise up the Babylonians, and the Babylonians will act in judgment against my people, the people of Judah." If Habakkuk's first complaint is, "God, why don't you do something?" His second complaint is, "Why are you doing that?" Because that seems worse than doing nothing.
Because these wicked Babylonians are worse than the wickedness that Habakkuk saw in the land of Judah.
How does this make sense? Why are you doing that? And Habakkuk waits.
He's waiting for an answer, and he says, effectively, "I'm going nowhere until I get an answer." Chapter two, verse one, "I will stand at my wash- watch and station myself on the ramparts.
I will look to see what he will say to me and w- what answer I am to give to this complaint." And chapter two, God finally speaks.
He replies.
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