From the blog post “The Three We Need” on Habakkuk 3:

In times of great uncertainty about the future, feelings of disconnection and the real possibility of hardship on the horizon, Habakkuk prayed an amazing prayer of confident faith in God that we can surely draw strength from today.

The Situation

Habakkuk’s time around 605 B.C. was very different from our own but his weariness, uncertainty, and pleading with God for help are feelings we certainly may share with him.  Habakkuk looked around him and all he saw were violence, immorality, perversion of justice, and the rejection of God’s ways of peace.  He asked God, “How long will all this go on and You do nothing about it?”  He asked God a hard question and God gave him a hard answer.  God was in fact going to do something about it.  He was going to shake things up in a major way and act in justice on the cruelties people (including God’s people) had inflicted upon the downtrodden and oppressed.  It was going to be a difficult time to live through for Habakkuk, but God’s promise to him was clear: those who pursued God and His ways would be sustained by their faithfulness to Him (Habakkuk 2:4).  God would not forget them and would preserve them even when judgment was necessary and faithful living wasn’t welcomed by a world obsessed with status-seeking and morally corrupt power. 

Having learned that God was about to act, Habakkuk was filled with many emotions including a sense of awe and fear.  The times were challenging ones to his faith, and during the days when God would act to set things right life would likely seem to get worse before it got better. Habakuk asked God for three things to help him make it through the tough times while looking forward to God’s restoration and peace: make us live, make us understand, and remember mercy. 

The Response

While staring into a future that would involve difficult trials and days where even basic necessities might be hard to come by, Habakkuk never lost faith in God.  Though the message God gave this prophet made him tremble, Habakkuk knew God’s good character and placed his faith in the eternal God who promised to see him through to the end.  His closing prayer in Habakkuk 3:2 reads in most Bibles:

“In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.”                                                                 

The original Hebrew is more direct: “In the midst, make him live.  In the midst, make him understand.  In (times of) trembling, remember mercy.”  Habakkuk does not pray for an end to the time of trial and trembling—he prays only that God would sustain the life of the righteous man and woman who put their full trust in God Almighty.  “Lord, sustain them and give them meaning and purpose even in the middle of hard times ahead.”  He also asks that in the midst of trying days filled with questions and uncertainty that God would give the faithful an understanding of His work in the world so that they could survive with strong faith in a hopeful future secured by God alone.  “Lord, give them understanding so that they can see your hand at work and praise you in the midst of the storm.”  Finally, Habakkuk asks that in times of trembling (some interpreters use the term “wrath”), that God would pour out His mercy on those who cling to Him for help and comfort.  Even the strongest person may tremble under stress and difficulty, but the tender mercies of God always prove sufficient to sustain those who trust in Him.  “Lord, never forget your mercy that keeps us from going under in bitter and trying times.”  What timely words of comfort from this mighty Minor Prophet.