Habakkuk is driven to pray again – “A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on Shigionoth. O LORD, I have heard your speech and was afraid; O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.” (v1,2)
After his conversations with God which had left Habakkuk utterly incredulous in what God is going to do, he tells God that he is afraid and pleads for God for a revival and to be merciful in His wrath. Revival is a work of God and all we can do is pray and receive it. It may be that revival begins with the ones and twos, or even me or you. We need God to do a work in us. Am I glorifying God in my life, in all I do and say? As we said at the beginning of chapter 1, we are living in a time when the vociferous minority have the ear of people in high places, sadly, even in some of our churches, to pass laws and rules totally against God’s word. We need to seek The LORD to do a work in us which may lead to revival. We often blame others, even the church, but need to look into our own hearts first and get right with God.
The phrase ‘in the midst of the years’ seems to indicate a specific time. He asks God to be merciful recognising that God is right to be angry – ‘In wrath remember mercy’. Spurgeon said, “O God, have mercy upon thy poor church, and visit her, and revive her. She has but a little strength; she has desired to keep thy word; oh, refresh her; restore to her thy power, and give her yet to be great in this land.” How we need this in our own lives, the church and our land.
Habakkuk proceeds to praise God (v3-15), he extols His power and greatness. His ways are everlasting and has total control over creation and His mighty acts in the past. This all causes Habakkuk to express his faith in God and mentions the salvation by His anointed, The LORD Jesus Christ.
Habakkuk is forced to consider the greatness of God when he thinks of the power of God and he responds by saying,
“When I heard, my body trembled; My lips quivered at the voice; Rottenness entered my bones; And I trembled in myself, That I might rest in the day of trouble. When he comes up to the people, He will invade them with his troops.
Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labour of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls – Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” (v16-18)
He recognised his weakness and that he is nothing compared to God, his body trembled, his lips quivered, and his body started to decay. He recognised that God was in total control so that he could be at rest in His hands even though trouble may come. God is the beginning and the end of it so there was nothing to worry about. Trouble was coming from the Babylonians but even they were under God’s control and limitations, they could go so far but no further. Even though the fig tree bears no blossom, nor fruit on the vine, the olive fails, and the fields yield nothing. Even the flock are cut off and herds lose their way. Yet, he will rejoice in the LORD and joy the God of his salvation. In a way the lack of fruit and blossom, flocks and herds paled into insignificance when compared to the joy which God gives in salvation.
What an amazing end to the disappointment of these verses and even the whole answer God has given him since he asked, “How long”. Perhaps we would have regretted asking, but Habakkuk, even though he was shocked at God’s answer to the problem, accepts it and trusts that God was greater than his problem.
He can’t contain himself and exclaims this song! I’m saying this because of the last phrase which seems to indicate that it was given to the Chief Musician to be used as a song of praise.
“The LORD God is my strength, He will make my feet like deer’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills. To the Chief Musician. With my stringed instruments.”
Proclaiming that his strength comes from The LORD God and makes his footing as sure as the deer when walking on the high hills.
Benjamin Franklin – who was not a Christian, though he had great respect for the Bible – used Habakkuk 3:17-19 to confound a group of sophisticated, cultured despisers of the Bible. When he was in Paris, he heard this group mocking the Bible, and mocking Franklin for his admiration of it. One evening he came among them and said that he had a manuscript containing an ancient poem, that he was quite impressed by the poem, and he wanted to read it to them. When he read Habakkuk 3:17-19, his listeners received it with praise and admiration – “What a magnificent poem!” they said, and wanted to know where they could get copies. Franklin told them to just look in Habakkuk chapter 3.
