Daily Devotional Tuesday 10th March 2020

by William Moody

Habakkuk 3:1–6

Habakkuk’s Prayer

3:1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.

  O LORD, I have heard the report of you,
    and your work, O LORD, do I fear.
  In the midst of the years revive it;
    in the midst of the years make it known;
    in wrath remember mercy.
  God came from Teman,
    and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah
  His splendor covered the heavens,
    and the earth was full of his praise.
  His brightness was like the light;
    rays flashed from his hand;
    and there he veiled his power.
  Before him went pestilence,
    and plague followed at his heels.1
  He stood and measured the earth;
    he looked and shook the nations;
  then the eternal mountains were scattered;
    the everlasting hills sank low.
    His were the everlasting ways.

Footnotes

[1] 3:5 Hebrew feet

(ESV)

The book of Habakkuk finishes with his prayer (3 v1-19). We see in this chapter some of the key elements of God-honouring prayer.

a. Humility (v2) – gone is the questioning of God’s ways. There is now acceptance of the righteousness of God’s actions. In Habakkuk’s prayer God is now centre stage and not the needs of the people. Such praying only happens when we spend more time thinking about God; when He fills our minds.

b. Worship (v2a) – Habakkuk is being filled with a sense of awe of God. Worship is rightly acknowledging who God is and who we are.

God honouring prayer will have a real sense of worship and adoration of God. Joy in the Lord and thanksgiving for what He has done needs worship in our praying. Such worship creates increased faith and hope in our praying.

c. Petition (v2b) – the prayer for the Lord to revive His work, comes from an understanding and focus on what God has done in the past. Remembering God’s great deeds in the past will feed our prayers to have increased expectation for the future.

Habakkuk’s request ‘In wrath remember mercy’, shows that Habakkuk accepts the guilt of God’s people and that their only hope is to be found in the merciful nature of God. Our only hope in praying is the mercy of God.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®),
copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.