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Habakkuk 3:1-15
INTRODUCTION: These past few weeks we have been walking along with Habakkuk on his journey from doubt to faith. Habakkuk was a prophet, and yet he still had some questions for God. We have seen that those questions can be summed up as follows: “Does God care? Is God fair? Is God there?” But instead of running away from God with his questions, Habakkuk brought his questions to God, and he hammered them out in prayer. And God answered Habakkuk every time. It was not always the answer that Habakkuk expected or even wanted, but God answered his questions and led him steadily along the journey from doubt to faith.
Chapter 3 records Habakkuk’s closing prayer in his journey. The implied complaint behind this prayer is that God is not there, question number three. But this time, instead of asking God to answer his complaint as before, Habakkuk answers it himself, as he reflects on God’s works and wonders for Israel over the centuries. And through this time of prayer and reflection, Habakkuk finally comes to a place of hope and confidence in God that allows him to praise God with rejoicing even as he anticipates the most difficult of circumstances.
Habakkuk 3:1-15
1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On [shigionoth].
2 LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew 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. [Selah]
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.
His ways are eternal.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in distress,
the dwellings of Midian in anguish.8 Were you angry with the rivers, O LORD?
Was your wrath against the streams?
Did you rage against the sea
when you rode with your horses
and your victorious chariots?
9 You uncovered your bow,
you called for many arrows. [Selah]
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. [Selah]
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. (NIV)
When our son Timothy was just a young child, Rose and I passed by his bedroom one evening and heard him talking out loud. We peeked through the crack in his door and saw him standing on his bed with his head lifted up towards the ceiling. He was saying, “God, are you there? God? God, are you listening? God? God, are you there?” We went in and asked him what he was doing. He said he wanted to talk to God, but he couldn’t see God, and he was just wondering if God was there. We talked to him a little about prayer and how although we cannot see God, God is there and he hears our prayers.
“Is God there?” This is perhaps the most basic of all questions that people ask about God. It is also the most basic level of faith. Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
And yet there is another way we can ask the question, “Is God there?” that goes beyond the question of God’s existence. Habakkuk certainly didn’t doubt God’s existence. He wondered about God’s presence. “God, are you there? Do you know what I am going through? Are you there to help me through this time of difficulty? I desperately need your presence. God, are you there?” That’s what Habakkuk was struggling with. And in chapter three we find a remarkable prayer where Habakkuk basically answers this question for himself and finally emerges at a place of faith and confidence rather than doubt and fear.
How can you be assured of God’s presence? Let’s look at chapter three together and see what we can learn from Habakkuk’s prayer.
I. Approach God in an attitude of worship. (verses 1-2a)
The first thing we need to do is approach God in an attitude of worship. And that’s exactly what Habakkuk does here in chapter 3. Verse 1 provides a title for the whole chapter: “A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth.”
Chapter three is a prayer from Habakkuk to God. Now when I talk to God in prayer, I usually just talk to him. I don’t craft my words or plan out any long speeches any more than I do when I am talking with a friend or a neighbor. But Habakkuk chapter three is a little different. We are not sure exactly what that word shigionoth means at the end of verse 1, but it seems to be some kind of musical term. The chapter closes with instructions for the director of music and speaks about using stringed instruments. And so Habakkuk 3 is not only a prayer; it is a psalm or a worship song. It is a musical prayer. And musical prayers are a little different from just our regular prayers when we talk to God on a day to day basis.
First of all, a musical prayer is a written prayer. It is not just spoken. The author of a written prayer thinks about what he wants to say and then writes it out. It takes some time to do that. You may go through several drafts, crossing things out, trying to get your words just right. Most of us aren’t used to writing out our prayers, but it is another valid way that we can communicate with God, sort of like writing God a letter. As human beings we write each other letters, not only when we are far away, but sometimes because we feel we can communicate what we want to say better through writing than just a conversation. Writing out prayers can be a valuable way to communicate with God also.
But a musical prayer is not only a written prayer. It is also a poem. Poetry uses condensed and heightened language. It requires composition. Words are carefully chosen not only for their content, but also for their imagery and rhythm and rhyme. Not all of us are gifted with poetic language, but if you are gifted in this way, you may want to consider writing out some prayers to God in poetic form.
And thirdly, a musical prayer is not only a written prayer and a poem. It is also a song. It is a song of worship. Music adds another element to prayer because it engages our emotions in a different way. Also, songs are meant to be sung over and over again. Worship songs are not just one-time prayers, but prayers that can be presented to the Lord repeatedly. And another neat thing about worship songs – songs can be shared, so that a wide range of people can use the words and music of the song to approach God in worship.
I love the hymns and the worship songs that we sing in church. I grew up singing songs of worship to God. I thank God for giving people the ability with words and music to write songs that help me in my own worship. And I particularly thank God for the various songs that are recorded for us in the Bible. Because when you read a Psalm from Scripture, you have the added dimension that this is also God’s inspired word. You have the confidence that these words about God are completely true. They have been given to you by God through the writer of the Psalm especially to help you in your worship. Habakkuk chapter three is one of those songs.
Notice how Habakkuk begins his prayer in verse 2: “LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.” (Habakkuk 3:2) He begins with worship. Too often we just rush right into prayer with all our requests. That was part of Habakkuk’s problem earlier. His earlier prayers were all complaints to God. Now we have already seen that there is nothing wrong with bringing your questions and complaints to God. God wants you to talk honestly with him. But if you want to know God’s presence, you must begin with worship.
Last week we finished looking at Habakkuk chapter 2. After describing all the frantic activity of the nations apart from God, Habakkuk closed out the chapter by saying: “But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” (Habakkuk 2:20) Now Habakkuk applies that truth to himself by applying his own heart to worship.
A. Adore God for who he is.
How do you worship God? First of all, adore God for who he is. Habakkuk says in verse 2, “Lord, I have heard of your fame.” (Habakkuk 3:2) God is “the famous One.” To quote from a recent worship song by Chris Tomlin:
You are the Lord, the famous one, famous one,
Great is your name in all the earth
The heavens declare you’re glorious, glorious
Great is your fame beyond the earth.
God is awesome. He is magnificent. He is perfect. He is beautiful. He is all-powerful, all-loving, all-righteous, all-wise. He is “The King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, [to whom] be honor and glory for ever and ever.” (1 Timothy 1:17) Focus your heart and your mind on God and adore him. Worship him in the beauty of his holiness. Speak to him; lift up your hands to him; fall down before him; worship Almighty God for who he is.
B. Praise God for what he has done.
And then secondly, praise God for what he has done. Habakkuk goes on in verse 2: “I stand in awe of all your deeds.” (Habakkuk 3:2) Praise him for what he has done not only in your own life, but in all of life. Praise him for his wonderful works in creation. Praise him for his awesome deeds in history. Praise him for calling out a people for his very own. Praise him for sending his Son into the world to accomplish our salvation. Praise God for who he is, and praise him for what he has done.
Chris Tomlin’s song “The Famous One” continues with this verse praising God for his deeds:
And for all you’ve done and yet to do
With every breath I’m praising you
Desire of nations and every heart
You alone are God, You alone are God.
How can you be assured of God’s presence? First, approach God in an attitude of worship. We often use the acronym ACTS to help us understand the various parts of prayer. A stands for adoration, C for confession, T for thanksgiving, and S for supplication or making requests. Those are the four basic ways of approaching God in prayer, and that is a pretty good way to remember them. But it is also a good order to remember to use in prayer. Begin with adoration and worship, then confess your sins to God, then thank him for his goodness, and then present your requests.
If you want to know God’s presence, begin with worship. Worship is one of the key stops that you make again and again on the journey from doubt to faith.
II. Remember God’s mighty deeds of the past. (verses 3-15)
Secondly, if you want to be assured of God’s presence, remember God’s mighty deeds of the past. This is what takes up the bulk of Habakkuk’s’ prayer in chapter 3. At its heart Habakkuk’s psalm is a song that describes God’s awesome presence and deeds.
Verses 3-15 describe what is called a theophany – a word that literally means “an appearance of God.” Of course God cannot actually be seen with the human eye. That’s part of what we explained to our son Timothy in his bed that night. God is too great, too powerful, too majestic, too holy.
1 Timothy 6:16 says that God “lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see.” God told Moses in Exodus 33:20, “No one may see me and live.” So in a theophany people do not actually see God, but they see visible markers of his presence. On Mount Sinai when God gave the Ten Commandments there was thunder and lightning, and fire and thick smoke, and a great earthquake and the sound of a trumpet that was growing louder and louder and louder. The people of Israel did not actually see God that day, but I can guarantee you no one was asking, “Is God there?” God was only too clearly present among them.
Habakkuk 3 presents a remarkable theophany of God in highly visual and poetic language. But unlike Mount Sinai, which was an actual theophany that took place in history, Habakkuk’s psalm uses the language of theophany to proclaim to the people of Israel that, yes, God is indeed there. And Habakkuk does this by remembering God’s mighty deeds of the past.
A. A word of warning: God conquers all enemies in his path.
As Habakkuk reflects on God’s deeds in the past, he emphasizes two points in particular. First of all, God conquers all enemies in his path. On one level this psalm is a picture of God coming with great power and might and destroying all the enemies that stand against him. The psalm is full of imagery from the surrounding nations at that time. The nations tended to associate their gods with various aspects of nature, and so as God comes striding up from the desert in the south, he conquers all the forces of nature and causes them to do his bidding.
God’s visible appearance is pictured as a great thunderstorm. If you have ever been in a truly powerful thunderstorm, then you know that it is a meaningful picture of God’s awesome power and majesty. When Rose and I went through Hurricane Andrew back in 1992, the whole experience left me reflecting on God’s awesome power and the coming day of judgment. Going through the storm was a terrifying experience, and yet it was only a glimpse of God’s majesty and power.
Let me walk you through these verses and help you to unpack some of the imagery that Habakkuk uses here.
Verses 3-4 say: “God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden.” (Habakkuk 3:3-4)
Teman was in the region to the south of Israel in the country of Edom. Mount Paran was located in the wilderness area between Edom and Mount Sinai. And so God’s coming is compared to a thunderstorm approaching Israel from the south. His brightness lights up the sky. Rays of lightning flash from his hands as from the deep thunderclouds, yet the full extent of God’s power remains hidden.
Verses 5-6 say: “Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps. He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.” (Habakkuk 3:5-6)
Plague and pestilence are signs of God’s judgment. The word pestilence can also mean flame. It comes from a word meaning “to burn.” And so verse 5 could also be translated as “flames went forth from his feet.” It is a picture of God’s awesome power and holiness as he walks through the land judging the earth for its sins. The nations tremble before him, and even the mountains and the hills crumble and collapse in his presence. The word “collapse” in verse 6 literally means “to bow down.” And so there is the sense of God’s creation bowing down in worship before him. The mountains may be ancient, the hills may have stood since ages-old, but God’s ways are eternal, and so they all fall down before him.
Verse 7 says, “I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish.” (Habakkuk 3:7) Here Habakkuk pictures the Cushan and Midianite people who live in tents in the desert trembling at God’s appearance as he passes them in the wilderness.
After describing God’s awesome appearance in verses 3-7, in verses 8-15 Habakkuk describes God’s conquest of all his enemies.
In verses 8-9 Habakkuk describes God’s conquest over the rivers and the sea. “Were you angry with the rivers, O LORD? Was your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against the sea when you rode with your horses and your victorious chariots? You uncovered your bow, you called for many arrows.” (Habakkuk 3:8-9)
There are three different words for God’s anger in these verses: anger, wrath and rage. The word for anger means hot or burning; the word for wrath means breath or nostrils; the word for rage means to pour out or overflow. Taken together they speak of God’s burning anger, the fierce blast of breath from his nostrils, his overflowing judgment poured out on his enemies because of their sin.
Verses 9-12 continue: “You split the earth with rivers; the mountains saw you and writhed. Torrents of water swept by; the deep roared and lifted its waves on high. Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear. In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations.” (Habakkuk 3:9-12)
The fierce wind and earthquake are followed by a downpour. Water floods the earth as in the days of Noah, splitting the earth with rivers. The sea lifts its waves on high, literally “lifts its hands on high.” This is more flood imagery but could also be a sign of submission and praise to the Lord. Even the sun and the moon stand still in fear of God’s awesome power. The flying arrows and flashing spear are more poetic references to lightning. God’s striding through the earth is perhaps another reference to thunder. And so all the forces of nature: the mountains, the rivers and streams, the sea, the sun and the moon all acknowledge God as Lord as he strides through the earth and threshes the nations in judgment.
Hebrew poetry often borrowed imagery from the mythologies of the surrounding nations. For example, there are several passages in the Bible that speak about God conquering Rahab the monster of chaos, and Leviathan the seven-headed dragon from the sea. It’s not that the Biblical writers believed that these creatures were real, any more than they believed that the false god Baal was real when they spoke about God defeating Baal. But it was their way of showing that God was superior to all the false gods of the nations, that he was conqueror over all his enemies.
The section in verses 13-15 picks up on some of this dragon imagery: “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. 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. You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters.” (Habakkuk 3:13-15)
“From head to foot” in verse 13 is literally “from neck to tail,” picturing God’s conquest of the great dragon Leviathan. Of course Satan is also called a dragon in Scripture, and so this is also a picture of God’s final conquest of Satan and his forces. Finally verse 15 says that God tramples the sea. In the Bible the sea is a symbol of all the evil forces in the world that stand opposed to God.
B. A word of comfort: God comes to deliver his people.
Habakkuk wants us to understand that yes, God is there, and God conquers all his enemies. That is a word of warning. But Habakkuk also wants us to understand that God comes to deliver his people. That is a word of comfort. So on one level verses 3-15 give us this dramatic picture of God coming up from the south and completely destroying all the enemies in his path. But on another level, the song is also full of imagery relating to God’s dealing with his people Israel. In many ways this song is a dramatic re-telling of God’s deliverance of his people.
Teman and Paran in verse 3 remind us of God’s presence with his people in the wilderness, where he first revealed himself to Israel and then led them on to the Promised Land. The thunderstorm and earthquake imagery is a reminder of God meeting with his people at Mount Sinai to give them the Ten Commandments. Plague and pestilence recall God’s ten plagues on Egypt resulting in Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. The victory over the rivers and the sea are meant to remind us of Israel’s miraculous crossings of the Red Sea and the Jordan River. The sun and the moon standing still are meant to remind us of Joshua’s victory over the Amorites recorded in Joshua 10. Piercing the head of the enemy with his own spear reminds us of David cutting off the head of Goliath with his own sword. Verse 13 speaks of God coming to deliver his people and to save his anointed one. The “anointed one” in the Hebrew language is literally “the Messiah,” the son of David who would come to deliver God’s people for good.
And so throughout the poem Habakkuk has expertly used imagery that not only details the defeat of God’s enemies, but also recalls God’s great saving acts for his people – their deliverance from Egypt; the Exodus and the crossing of the Red Sea; the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai; their wandering in the wilderness and eventual conquest of the promised land; David the anointed king and the coming of Messiah who would bring salvation for his people.
When you are wondering, “Is God there?” how can you be assured of God’s presence? Remember God’s mighty deeds of the past. God conquers all enemies in his path. God comes to deliver his people.
III. Ask God to renew his deeds in the present. (verse 2b)
And then, don’t stop with just remembering God’s deeds from the past. Ask God to renew his deeds in the present. That’s what Habakkuk did back in verse 2. He prayed, “LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.” (Habakkuk 3:2)
A. Pray for personal and corporate revival.
Pray for both personal and corporate revival. Pray for revival in your own heart first. Pray that God would give you an ever increasing faith in him and love for him. Pray that God would give you a burning desire for holiness and to see God glorified in all areas of your life. Pray for revival in the church and in the community. I pray every week for revival to come to the town of Agawam and the surrounding communities. One of our nation’s greatest revivals began not far from here in the city of Northhampton. God has brought revival in the past. God can bring revival again. Pray that God would renew his deeds in the present.
B. Pray for God in his wrath to remember mercy.
And as you pray for revival, along with Habakkuk pray for God in his wrath to remember mercy. When you ask God to renew his deeds in the present, you are also asking him to bring judgment on the world for its sins. God cannot be active in a world of sin without judging that sin. And so as you ask God to renew his deeds, as you pray for personal and corporate revival, also ask God in his wrath to remember mercy.
Realize that you don’t have to convince God to do this. You don’t have to somehow persuade God against his will to be merciful. It is God’s nature to show mercy. When you pray this prayer, you are praying according to God’s will, and so you know it will be answered. The greatest example of God in wrath remembering mercy took place at the cross. There God poured out his wrath against sin upon his own Son in order that he might show mercy to sinners who would put their faith in Christ.
CONCLUSION: Once again, some of you may be struggling with the same questions as Habakkuk did in this book. “Does God care? Is God fair? Is God there?” If so, you need to capture Habakkuk’s vision of a God who has done great things for his people in the past and will do them again in the present. Yes, God is there. He is the famous one! Approach him in an attitude of worship. Know that God will defeat his enemies and deliver his people. Ask God to renew his deeds in our time.
© Ray Fowler
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