A Prayer to Remember Mercy in Wrath

Habakkuk 3:1-16

1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on Shigionoth.

2 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.

3 God came from Teman,
The Holy One from Mount Paran.

Selah

His glory covered the heavens,
And the earth was full of His praise.

4 His brightness was like the light;
He had rays flashing from His hand,
And there His power was hidden.

5 Before Him went pestilence,
And fever followed at His feet.

6 He stood and measured the earth;
He looked and startled the nations.
And the everlasting mountains were scattered,
The perpetual hills bowed.
His ways are everlasting.

7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;
The curtains of the land of Midian trembled.

8 O LORD, were You displeased with the rivers,
Was Your anger against the rivers,
Was Your wrath against the sea,
That You rode on Your horses,
Your chariots of salvation?

9 Your bow was made quite ready;
Oaths were sworn over Your arrows.

Selah

You divided the earth with rivers.

10 The mountains saw You and trembled;
The overflowing of the water passed by.
The deep uttered its voice,
And lifted its hands on high.

11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation;
At the light of Your arrows they went,
At the shining of Your glittering spear.

12 You marched through the land in indignation;
You trampled the nations in anger.

13 You went forth for the salvation of Your people,
For salvation with Your Anointed.
You struck the head from the house of the wicked,
By laying bare from foundation to neck.

Selah

14 You thrust through with his own arrows
The head of his villages.
They came out like a whirlwind to scatter me;
Their rejoicing was like feasting on the poor in secret.

15 You walked through the sea with Your horses,
Through the heap of great waters.

16 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.

The prophet prayed for God to remember mercy in the midst of His just wrath against the sin of His people.  As he listened to God speak he was afraid and begged for revival among his fallen people based on the years of the history of that mercy and grace as well as the hope of more to follow.  He asked for all to be made known and remember mercy in that anger for their unrepentant sins of immorality and idolatry instead of following His word commanded to them.  He confessed with praise how God is the Holy One and how His glory overwhelmingly blankets heaven and elicits praise from His creation on earth.  That holiness is seen displayed in the brightness of His glory in His appearance (Ezekiel 1:28, Hebrews 1:3) as power came from His almighty hands to rule and judge everyone in righteousness.  In His everlasting ways God brings pestilence as well as prosperity for correction as well as punishment as it is due.  He shakes the nations and rides chariots of His salvation to deliver His chosen people.  His floods overwhelm the nations as He utters His voice from the deep and lifts the hands of the water high as when He brought the people out of the bondage of Egypt across the Red Sea.  His ways are everlasting!  He even stopped the sun and moon (Joshua 10:12-14) to gain victory through giving more time to do battle against their enemies.  His works were so powerful and full of grace and mercy for them and anger against the nations, and He reminded them by these words of Habakkuk.  The LORD God went before them for their salvation from their enemies as a foreshadowing of the victory over sin and death through His mighty hand which was needed because of the judgment due them as a result of the wages of their sin.  It is written that He went forth for salvation with his Anointed who is by definition the Messiah (Christ).  This is the gospel lying in the shadows of grace to be revealed in due time as Galatians 4:4 tells us looking backward as it is told forward here.  As the prophet heard these things from God’s speech to him, Habakkuk trembled in fear and awe and sought rest as judgment approached.  We also have sought rest in Christ Jesus as the final eternal judgment approaches and stand in awe at His mercy in the midst of the wrath that is due upon us all.  Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift (Romans 6:23, 2 Corinthians 9:15)!