"Look at the proud; their soul is not straight or right
within them, but the rigidly just and uncompromisingly
righteous shall live by their faith and faithfulness."
Habakkuk 2:4
Habakkuk Cries Out In Prayer
Gustave Dore
A PRAYER OF HABAKKUK
Habakkuk 3:1-19
O Lord, I have heard the report of You and was afraid.
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years,
in the midst of the years make Yourself known!
In wrath, earnestly remember love, pity, and mercy.
God, approaching from Sinai came from Teman,
which represents Edom, and the Holy One from
Mount Paran in the Sinai region.
Selah, pause and calmly think of that!
His glory covered the heavens and the earth was
full of His praise. And His brightness was like the sunlight;
rays streamed from His hand and there in sun-like splendor
was the hiding place of His power.
Before Him went the pestilence as in Egypt, and burning
plague followed His feet as in Sennacherib's army.
He stood and measured the earth; He looked and shook the nations,
and the eternal mountains were scattered and the perpetual hills
bowed low. His ways are everlasting and His goings are of old.
I, Habakkuk, in vision, saw the tents of Cushan (Ethiopia)
in affliction; the tent curtains of the land of Midian trembled.
Were You displeased with the rivers, O Lord?
Or was Your anger against the rivers You divided?
Was your wrath against the Red Sea, that You rode before
Your horses and Your chariots of victory and deliverance?
Your bow was made quite bare; sworn to the tribes of Israel
by Your sure word were the rods of chastisement,
scourges and calamities.
(Selah, pause and calmly think of that!)
With rivers You cleaved the earth, bringing forth water in dry places.
The mountains saw You; they trembled and writhed as in pain.
The overflowing of the water passed by as at the deluge;
the deep uttered its voice and its hands on high.
The sun and the moon stood back, as before Joshua, in their
habitation at the light of Your arrows as they sped, at the
flash of Your glittering spear.
You marched through the land in indignation; You trampled
and threshed the nations in anger.
You went forth and have come for the salvation of Your people,
for the deliverance and victory of Your anointed people, Israel.
You smote the head of the house of the wicked, laying bare
the foundation even to the neck,
(Selah, pause and calmly think of that!)
You pierced with his own arrows the head of the enemy's
hordes; they came out as a whirlwind to scatter the people
rejoicing as if to devour the poor, Israel, secretly.
You have trodden the sea with Your horses, beside the
heap of great and surging waters.
I heard and my whole inner self trembled; my lips quivered
at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones and under me
down to my feet; I tremble, I will wait quietly for the day
of trouble and distress when there shall come up against
my people him who is about to invade and oppress them.
Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit
on the vines, though the product of the olive fails and the
fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold
and there are no cattle in the stalls.
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will exult in the victorious God of my salvation!
The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my
invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds' feet and will make
me to walk, not to stand still in terror, but to walk and make
spiritual progress upon my high places of trouble,
suffering or responsibility.
Paul Wilbur
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