Habakkuk’s Prayer
“This is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth: O LORD, I have heard the report of You; I stand in awe, O LORD, of Your deeds. Revive them in these years; make them known in these years. In Your wrath, remember mercy! God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.
Selah (Pause and calmly think on that)
His glory covered the heavens, and His praise filled the earth. His radiance was like the sunlight; rays flashed from His hand, where His power is hidden. Plague went before Him, and fever followed in His steps. He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations; the ancient mountains crumbled; the perpetual hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting. I saw the tents of Cushan in distress; the curtains of Midian were trembling. Were You angry at the rivers, O LORD? Was Your wrath against the streams? Did You rage against the sea when You rode on Your horses, on Your chariots of salvation? You brandished Your bow; You called for many arrows.
Selah (Pause and calmly think on that)
You split the earth with rivers. The mountains saw You and quaked; torrents of water swept by. The deep roared with its voice and lifted its hands on high. Sun and moon stood still in their places at the flash of Your flying arrows, at the brightness of Your shining spear. You marched across the earth with fury; You threshed the nations in wrath. You went forth for the salvation of Your people, to save Your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked and stripped him from head to toe.
Selah (Pause and calmly think on that)
With his own spear You pierced his head, when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though ready to secretly devour the weak. You trampled the sea with Your horses, churning the great waters. I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the people who invade us.
Habakkuk Rejoices
Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls, yet I will exult in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! GOD the Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like those of a deer; He makes me walk upon the heights!” (For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments)
Habakkuk has complained to God about His lack of action and has received God’s answer. Now Habakkuk is doing something that all of us should do when we are in distress: he is reminding himself of the power and glory of God and all the wonders God has done for the Israelites in the past. Much of this prayer harks back to the prayer of Moses in Deuteronomy 33. “I stand in awe, O LORD, of Your deeds. Revive them in these years; make them known in these years. In Your wrath, remember mercy! God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.”
Selah (Pause and calmly think on that) Question: How many of us are willing to pause, let alone CALMLY THINK on anything?
“His glory covered the heavens, and His praise filled the earth. His radiance was like the sunlight; rays flashed from His hand, where His power is hidden. Plague went before Him, and fever followed in His steps. He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations; the ancient mountains crumbled; the perpetual hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting.” Anybody who doubts God’s power should try something simple: look at the sun at noon. Remember that our sun is one of the smaller stars in the sky, and yet it’s too bright for us to look at directly. We don’t normally think of God as employing plagues and fevers to accomplish His will, but in Egypt God sent plagues and fevers on the Egyptians to convince them they needed to get the Israelites out of their country before their country was completely destroyed. God knows the exact measure of everything on the earth; He can easily startle the nations. And even if God simply shrugs, mountains and hills will crumble, rivers will pierce the earth, the sun and moon stand still, and nations are destroyed.
Finally, after meditating on the glory and majesty of God, Habakkuk reaches a final conclusion: “Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls, yet I will exult in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! GOD the Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like those of a deer; He makes me walk upon the heights!”
APPLICATION: At the beginning, I dedicated this Bible study to the late Dr. Tom Elkins. Dr. Thomas E. Elkins was an outstanding Obstetrician/Gynecologist who taught at several major medical schools while also serving as a missionary in various parts of West Africa. As a member of the faculty at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Elkins was considered an international authority on pelvic reconstruction surgery. It was Dr. Elkins who quoted the last several verses of Habakkuk 3 to me at a time when my husband and I were facing a crisis in our missionary careers. Dr. Elkins told me that he had been given those verses by a veteran missionary surgeon at a mission hospital in Nigeria when he was a medical student. Now I am sharing this encouragement with all of you.
Many times, we assume that God can only bless us when everything is going smoothly and when we have plenty of resources. But Habakkuk was watching the Babylonians mercilessly crush surrounding nations. Will we only trust God when everything is going fine, or will we trust Him even when crops are failing and famine is looming? Do we only love God for what He can give, or do we love Him for Himself? The promise for us is that if we will rejoice in the God of our salvation, God the Lord WILL be our strength, and He WILL make us sure – footed and establish our ways, even on treacherous mountain paths.
PRAYER:Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to praise You, even when things look bleak, In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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