Habakkuk’s Prayer

Habakkuk’s prayer is called a psalm of submission, for now at long last there came a resolution to his struggles. The answer which he received to his questions was not what he expected; instead of the Lord chastening disobedient Israel, Habakkuk heard with alarm the word of utter devastation pronounced upon the land. Habakkuk also received a word of consolation and reassurance instead of a rebuke for his complaint.

Habakkuk had heard God’s word and feared. He had believed that what the Lord had spoken and revealed to him was true. He then prayed that the Lord would preserve His own work. It was not a formal prayer, but an expression of profound and strong emotion.

Habakkuk knew that it was a time of wrath, a time of God’s judgments upon a rebellious, disobedient people. And are we not living in similar days? A time of wrath is:

A time of sin, of increasing iniquity;

A time of sleeping, of slothfulness — the wise virgins, although they have oil in their vessels, are asleep with the foolish ones.

A time of error. They will believe the lie of man-made religion rather than God’s revealed truth.

A time of apostasy, wherein many will turn their backs to the truth.

A time wherein God hides His countenance. It is a time in which God does not seem to speak. It is a time of lifelessness, barrenness, unfruitfulness and decay. God’s church is no longer the light upon the candlestick or the city upon the hill. It is dark in the world and in the church. The spirit of discernment is lacking, for people are blinded by those who have the appearance of godliness but who are lacking the power and essence of it. When these things happen, God’s true children are isolated, oppressed, despised and misunderstood by many. The nominal Christian will have the most to say and will seem to prosper; like miracle trees, without roots, they will grow everywhere, glorying in man, and not as poor and needy sinners boasting in free grace alone. Dear friends, are we not living in a time of wrath?

It is no wonder therefore that Habakkuk, seeing the dreadful condition of his people, prayed “Lord, revive Thy work.”

What a precious prayer he uttered here, as is recorded by the Holy Spirit as an example for us!

In this prayer we see humiliation. There was no arguing by the prophet, but rather a recognition that what God says He will do unto them is perfectly right and just, and that His punishments upon Israel are well-deserved. It is as the prophet in Daniel 9:7 stated, “O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto Thee, but unto us confusion of faces.” Habakkuk had seen the wonderful vision of the Lord in His holy temple (ch. 2:20), He being the sovereign and holy God who inhabits eternity and who has sinful mankind and the universe beneath Him. Habakkuk knew that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” When we really come to such a place of humiliation, then we do not complain that God’s severe judgments or punishments are too heavy, but we will say with Micah, “I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him.”

This prayer also shows adoration. Habakkuk was afraid, for this expression implies awe before the presence of such a holy God who had revealed something of His counsel to him. Habakkuk saw the omnipotence and holiness of the Lord, and there was reverence and godly fear. Do we, in these days, see God in His holy temple, standing above the course of history and above the changing scenes of our times, as the sovereign, faithful God who fulfills His Word also in these days?

We also hear in this prayer an urgent request, a humble petition. What is this petition? Habakkuk did not ask for deliverance or ease; he did not ask that God would spare life, prevent destruction or war with the Chaldeans, nor did he ask for the safety of Jerusalem and the holy place. Habakkuk knew that God’s judgments were inevitable and well-deserved. His petition shows a deep concern for God’s cause, work, and purpose. “O Lord, revive Thy work, in the midst of the years,” while these terrible things prophesied are actually taking place amongst us.

Revive means to preserve, keep alive, let Thy work be preserved, purified and corrected. If it comes in the fiery furnace of affliction, under Thy correcting rod, let it be purged, delivered of sin, of the dross, and of the things that are hindering Thy cause. Remember Thy work; make it as it is meant to be, as it ought to be in this world. It is Thy work, for Israel is Thy planting. Thou hast formed it, called it, and placed it apart, giving it so many blessings. It is Thy work, for it is the people that are called after Thy Name.

Do we have knowledge of such a petition? God still has such a people whom He has formed by His almighty power. It is His church, but how sad is the picture of that church. Is not God’s church far removed from the place of this petition? There is so much speaking when there should be silence, also a withdrawal into our closet or our inner room. There is so much silence when words of warning, exhortation, rebuke, invitation, and encouragement should be spoken, when we should show forth the praises of Him who called His people out of darkness unto His marvelous light. How poor is the condition of the living Church! Is it a wonder then that the vain and empty boasters of a Christ for whom room was never made in the heart, that nominal christendom, get the upper hand and speak so freely?

Habakkuk prayed for the revival of God’s work. Let it be lively, visible and active; let it be a light upon a candlestick, a testimony of Thy grace; and let it be extended and established. Then there will be heartfelt sorrow, true repentance, and sincere longing for God’s fellowship and the tokens of His favor. There will also be a spiritual mourning, as in Zechariah 12, a begging for pardon, for the light of God’s countenance, and the tokens of His love. There will also be, however, the fruits of faith — the renewing of our lives, true sanctification which will be visible in a humble, dependent, needy and yet God-glorifying life, a life lived to His honor, the edification of our neighbor, and the assurance of the reality of God’s work manifested in us.

He also asked: Make it known; make Thy work appear, break through. May it be published so that Thy enemies will see it and tremble and Thy people see it and rejoice. Let it be evident and manifest that after having experienced Thy righteous judgments, we may now see Thy faithfulness in the reviving and manifesting work of Thy grace. This was also the prayer of Moses in Psalm 90:16, “Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants, and Thy glory unto their children.” Habakkuk’s hope in this prayer was that it would be the Lord’s work, for he was not pleading upon any worthiness in either Israel or himself. He had a different pleading ground, Thy work, Lord, revive that. That is a sovereign work. It is a seeking, gathering, building, restoring, God-glorifying, eternal, unchangeable, and unbreakable work, for it is the work of Thy hand. What a difference there is whether our hope is based on something which is nothing but our own work, or that we have some knowledge of His one-sided work in our lives! This is a knowledge taught in a way wherein we painfully learn that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Have we ever really come to that point where all the works of our own hands are in ruins?

My dear fellow-traveler to eternity, God does not mix His work with ours. He saves lost sinners, and He glorifies His work alone by breaking down all our heights, expectations, possibilities and works. Blessed are they who have lost their carnal hope and who are begotten unto a lively hope, based on the finished work of the Mediator.

Oh, that pleading upon His work, His Name, His covenant and His promises! “What wilt Thou do to Thy great Name?” Oh, in that begging for mercy and unmerited goodness and in pleading upon God’s own Name, we acknowledge that He is right and we are condemnable, but that we hope on His mercy. God is just, but in Christ He is also merciful and pardons iniquities. He looks with favor upon a hell-worthy people that expects to be cast away forever and that bows under His justice. He shows abundant mercy to them for His Name’s sake, for Christ has borne the wrath of God. There was no mercy for Him, only “pay me what thou owest.” The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. He was in exile, was forsaken by God and man. He carried away the sins of His people. Remember His work and look upon us in mercy, for His sake. This was Habakkuk’s hope and only expectation.

We see in the end of the prayer how this beggar may prevail. For then we hear him in Habakkuk 3:17-18, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and

there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

He could sing of the God of his strength who would make him to walk upon high places. That is the victory of faith. Oh, better to be such a poor Habakkuk (=embraced by God), than a vain boaster with no more than historical knowledge and superficial joy.

Dear friends, then those, who foolishly built on sandy foundations and looked down upon those Habakkuks, will sink away into eternal night and misery. But the hope of the Habakkuks will be fulfilled, the waiting time will be over, the wilderness journey will be finished, and the days of mourning will be ended. Then they will sing and rejoice with Habakkuk in the God of their salvation and glory in His work alone in His mercy so freely given.

TRUE SANCTIFICATION

How it behooves the people of God to keep a careful watch, to hate sin because of its God-dishonoring character, lest it have dominion in their mortal bodies, and to use with holy earnestness the means that the Lord has ordained for making progress in sanctification! In this exercise it is especially indispensable to have believing communion with Christ, so that God’s people would not again be entangled with the yoke of bondage and take refuge in their own strength instead of going to the fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

— Rev. G.H. Kersten

Rev. C. Vogelaar is pastor of the Ebenezer Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.

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