Habakkuk – 3
Habakkuk had engaged with God on God’s ground in chapter 1 and following God’s answer Habakkuk had determined to stand, to watch, to listen and now comes the answer.
Habakkuk 3:2 “Lord I have heard and I am afraid” Many of us will find ourselves agreeing with that statement, “I have heard and I am afraid” But: Habakkuk’s resolve is to cry out “Lord revive your work in the midst of the years… in wrath remember mercy” Habakkuk 3:2 KJV.
We find here in this man Habakkuk a realisation that God is in control, not just of his life but also of the lives of the people of the nations around him.
We need to come to this place in God where we can say with Habakkuk “Revive your work…In wrath remember mercy”
In our day and our time in history, we have the benefit and assurance that God has come and has remembered mercy. In Hebrews 10:10 it is recorded that it is by God’s will that we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Note here that it is God’s will that Christ died in order that you and I could be free and have full assurance that God is in control.
God sent Himself, in the form of His Son, to this earth, to live as one of us, to die on our behalf, so that we could live for Him. “God in your wrath remember mercy”.
Habakkuk then goes onto experience a prophetic word which was probably sung over the congregation. It would have been a life giving and life affirming prophecy.
The prophecy itself was devastating, what Habakkuk resolved was life affirming. He says in Habakkuk 3:16 KJV “When I heard, my belly trembled”, in other words he was sick to the pit of his stomach and he trembled in himself. What he says and does next should be our response to injustice. “thought the fig tree shall not blossom or there be no fruit on the vine, the olives fail and the fields are barren, no sheep in the fold, no herd in the stable, yet I will rejoice, the Lord is my strength, He will make me to walk in high places.” Habakkuk 3:17-19.
What Habakkuk had learnt was, that although there was injustice in the world, he could trust God and had assurance that God was in control.
Habakkuk entreated God , got an answer he was uncomfortable with, yet came to a place where he trusted in God.
We can and must do the same. In our day and age we live in the second covenant, the first has been swept away by the coming of Jesus.
We have the benefit of knowing that God has ‘in His wrath, has remembered mercy’. Do we live in this truth, knowing that God is in control?
“What a faithful God have I”
“All my life you have been faithful,
all my life you have been so so good,
with every breath that I am able,
I will sing of the goodness of God
