September 10, 2024 | Be God's Light
Habakkuk’s Prayer to the Lord
Scripture: Habakkuk 3(NIV)
1A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth.
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.
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.
Devotional
Yesterday we looked at Habakkuk’s questioning God with why He was allowing evil people to go unpunished and even to flourish. The Lord answered the prophet in Habakkuk chapter 2.
Here in Habakkuk 3, we see the prayer of the prophet in response. We might summarize it like this:
God is all-powerful.
God is in control.
God is sovereign over everything from mountains to rivers, from celestial bodies to tiny grapes, from where my feet traverse to where my soul ends up.
Today, write your own devotional. Find a creative way to praise God for who He is and what He does!
Poem
Teach Us To Pray
Teach us to pray like the prophets of old
With humility, courage and power
Whether down in the streets, with the ones brought low
Or when standing amongst those in power
Teach us to pray and recount your great deeds
How your faithfulness cannot be shaken
How the mighty have fallen when hell bent on pride
How the humble to heaven were taken
Teach us to pray when your full wrath we know
As with fire, flood evil's consumed
Let us call on your mercy, so steady, so just
Upon all of us righteously doomed
Teach us to pray when our world's upside down
When confusion runs wild in our streets
Call us from fear to your throne room of grace
There your sovereignty, love we will meet
