AGAIN, LORD!
Opening Prayer
Gracious Father, still my mind and heart; give me encouragement and peace as I come to your Word.
Read HABAKKUK 3
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Habakkuk’s Prayer
3 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth.[a]
2 Lord, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.
3 God came from Teman,
the Holy One from Mount Paran.[b]
His glory covered the heavens
and his praise filled the earth.
4 His splendor was like the sunrise;
rays flashed from his hand,
where his power was hidden.
5 Plague went before him;
pestilence followed his steps.
6 He stood, and shook the earth;
he looked, and made the nations tremble.
The ancient mountains crumbled
and the age-old hills collapsed—
but he marches on forever.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in distress,
the dwellings of Midian in anguish.
8 Were you angry with the rivers, Lord?
Was your wrath against the streams?
Did you rage against the sea
when you rode your horses
and your chariots to victory?
9 You uncovered your bow,
you called for many arrows.
You split the earth with rivers;
10 the mountains saw you and writhed.
Torrents of water swept by;
the deep roared
and lifted its waves on high.
11 Sun and moon stood still in the heavens
at the glint of your flying arrows,
at the lightning of your flashing spear.
12 In wrath you strode through the earth
and in anger you threshed the nations.
13 You came out to deliver your people,
to save your anointed one.
You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness,
you stripped him from head to foot.
14 With his own spear you pierced his head
when his warriors stormed out to scatter us,
gloating as though about to devour
the wretched who were in hiding.
15 You trampled the sea with your horses,
churning the great waters.
16 I heard and my heart pounded,
my lips quivered at the sound;
decay crept into my bones,
and my legs trembled.
Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity
to come on the nation invading us.
17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.
For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.
Footnotes
- Habakkuk 3:1 Probably a literary or musical term
- Habakkuk 3:3 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the middle of verse 9 and at the end of verse 13.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How willing are you to acknowledge that God knows best, no matter what?Habakkuk, the musician, sang about the wonderful things God did in the past. He asked God to repeat the awesome things he had done (v. 2), for example, when he brought his people out of Egypt, and led them to Mount Sinai and the Promised Land. Now, he patiently sought deliverance from the rule of the oppressor, trusting in God’s strength (vv. 16, 19).
In past weeks, we have been thanking God for his gift of Jesus, the second Moses, the ‘anointed one’ (v. 13) who also came out of Egypt to free his people from oppression (Matthew 2:13–21). God heard Habakkuk’s plea and answered it in a greater, deeper, and far more lasting way than Habakkuk could ever have imagined.
Habakkuk had begun by questioning God and pretty much telling him how he should be doing his job (chapters 1, 2). Finally, he realized God actually did know best, and he could leave the world, with all its pain and injustices, in the Lord’s hands. In spite of it all, he could rejoice. Habakkuk was ‘the person in right standing before God’ who ‘through loyal and steady believing was fully alive, really alive’ (2:4, The Message).
Apply
Just as Habakkuk ended with a personal declaration of faith in God (vv. 16–19), be determined to tell others what a difference Christ has made in your life.
Closing prayer
Loving Heavenly Father, on this last day of 2024, thank you for your loving faithfulness that was mine each day. I commit the coming year—and myself—into your strong and safe, reliable hands.
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