Habakkuk was troubled by evil – in the nation and the evil of those the Lord was raising up to judge them. The Lord’s answer to his impassioned praying was to call for the righteous to live by faith and to show that, far from evil annulling his purposes, the Lord was actively pursuing those purposes and even using human sin and rebellion to further them. Sin would not have the final word; no, the earth would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
In this last chapter of the book, we have the final response from Habakkuk to the Lord’s reply. Before we come to the substance of his words, it’s worth pausing to notice its form. Vv.1,19 make it clear that this chapter is written as a psalm and set to music. Here is a heartfelt response and reflection by Habakkuk to what God has said and it is set down in a finely-crafted poetic form, with appropriate musical accompaniment. Let me just say two things about that.
i. Some might think that the ability to write good poetry and music are incidental in the Christian life, that the truth needs no ‘dressing-up’ to make its point. This chapter offers no support for that viewpoint. Here are gifts from God that are harnessed in the service of God.
ii. And the fact that the Lord inspires this composition shows that he furthers his work in us by such means. He made us not only to be able to appreciate poetry and music but such that they can be of positive spiritual benefit to us. Such gifts, therefore, should not be despised but accepted with gratitude and used to God’s glory.
1. In awe of God’s greatness; in need of God’s mercy (vv.1,2)
So, Habakkuk has bared his soul before the Lord and has received his powerful reply. In v.1, he takes his stand with the worshippers of 2:20 and is awestruck by the greatness of God.
He has heard of the Lord’s fame and stands in awe of his deeds. The God who been active in history has, through his words and deeds, made a big impression upon Habakkuk as he has wrestled with the problem of evil in his day.
And as he stands in the presence of God, awed and humbled, Habakkuk prays once more: he asks the Lord to renew his deeds in that day, to do again powerful, redeeming works as he did in former times and, in his wrath, to remember mercy.
Habakkuk knows very acutely the needs of the times. If the situation is going to be changed, it needs God to act in power. But if God acted in power alone, the people of Judah would be consumed, since they deserve God’s wrath. As God’s plans to chastise his people by the Babylonians begin to unfold, Habakkuk pleads for mercy, that they would not be utterly consumed.
Habakkuk is praying for revival, for the LORD to show mercy to his people in the face of their sin. He is looking to the Lord to spare them through the coming calamity and to renew his work among them. He cared enough to enquire in the first place and now he is spiritually-minded enough to engage in passionate praying for revival.
His example is one we do well to emulate.
2. The ground of prayer: the deeds of God (vv.3-15)
Habakkuk grounds his prayer for God’s merciful intervention on the character of God as it has been revealed in history. That is a very important principle for us to grasp. For many, history is a dull subject but, seen from the right perspective, it is far from being so. For those with eyes to see (and the Bible helps us to see clearly) history is full of God and his powerful interventions and mercies.
In very poetic language, Habakkuk portrays the Lord here as the divine warrior, taking his stand against his enemies and delivering his people. Much of the language recalls the exodus from Egypt and the entry into the Promised Land, which were events that the people often recalled to inspire their hope in dark days.
It is possible, and right, for the church today to remember what God has done in the past and so to ask him to intervene in our own day. The basis on which Habakkuk prayed can also be the basis for our own prayers. But there is one area of crucial difference that we need to look at.
Habakkuk asked the Lord to intervene in power and mercy on the grounds of what he had done in the past. But those events were not the ultimate rescue in themselves; the exodus pointed forward to the true deliverance that Jesus alone was to effect through his death.
That means when we pray, it is to be on the basis of the finished work of Jesus. That truth has important implications for how and what we pray.
When we pray for the revival of God’s work in our own day, it must always be with the glad and humble recognition that God has already done the work, he has already won the decisive victory. Our praying is to be not for a decisive victory but for the outworking of what Jesus has already done.
It would be terribly wrong if our praying were ever to give the impression that really, what the Lord has done up till now is not very much indeed, that we are lacking evidences of his power and mercy. All our praying for revival should have the cross at its heart, as the supreme demonstration of the love and power of God and as the decisive, once-for-all victory over sin and evil.
It is also important that we learn from Habakkuk here that we are submitting ourselves to the Lord’s timing. In v.16, Habakkuk says he will wait patiently for calamity to come upon the Babylonians. When it came, that would mean deliverance for the people; he is prepared to wait patiently for that time. In doing so, he is honouring the sovereign rights of the living God.
The fact that our nation is in desperate need does not mean we can dictate to the Lord. He knows what he’s doing, doesn’t he? We can trust that, can’t we?
3. “Endurance inspired by hope” (vv.16-19)
Having prayed for God’s reviving mercy and having laid out the grounds for that hope, in vv.16-19 Habakkuk writes of his (and the people’s?) readiness to wait in hope and even to rejoice in God in the midst of the dark days.
What we’re seeing here is the application of the truth of 2:4: the righteous will live by faith. In the most poetic language, Habakkuk describes the emptiness and the seeming hopelessness of the days he lived in (v.17) but that will not stop him from waiting in genuine expectation and with sincere, unaffected joy in his heart.
How can he say such things? Where does this hope spring from that inspires such endurance on his part? It springs from the reality of the character of God and his powerful interventions in the history of the people. If he could look back to the exodus and resolve to wait in hope and eager expectation, how much more should we, who regularly feast at the Lord’s Table, how much more should we be steadfast in our hope and overflowing in joy?
Yes, the days are evil; yes, the ground seems so hard; yes, we are often at a low spiritual ebb – yet the God who sent his Son into this world to die and rise again will not allow that work to go to waste. The Lord Jesus will see and rejoice in the fruits of his suffering.
Knowing that, we too can be people of genuine hope, a hope that leads to believing prayer and faithful service. All may seem dark and dismal, fruitless and futile, “yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.” It is the Sovereign LORD who is our strength and who make us strong and stable, enabling us to go on the heights. To him be the glory. Amen!
