December 4, 1983
When evildoers succeed and people keep turning from God, why does God wait so long to bring justice and revival? In this study, we see that the prophet Habakkuk, who began by sighing about God’s delays, ended up singing about God’s perfections. Alistair Begg considers how this servant of God found humility in his own human limitations—and how we too will never become triumphant in faith until we have first begun a life of faith.
1A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
2O Lord, xI have heard the report of you,
and yyour work, O Lord, do I fear.
In the midst of the years zrevive it;
in the midst of the years make it known;
ain wrath remember mercy.
3God came from bTeman,
cand the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah
His splendor covered the heavens,
and the earth was full of his praise.
4dHis brightness was like the light;
rays flashed from his hand;
and there he veiled his power.
5eBefore him went pestilence,
and plague followed fat his heels.1
6He stood gand measured the earth;
he looked and shook the nations;
then the heternal mountains iwere scattered;
the everlasting hills sank low.
His were jthe everlasting ways.
7I saw the tents of kCushan in affliction;
lthe curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
8mWas your wrath against the rivers, O Lord?
Was your anger against the rivers,
mor your indignation against the sea,
nwhen you rode on your horses,
non your chariot of salvation?
9You stripped the sheath from your bow,
calling for many arrows.2 Selah
pYou split the earth with rivers.
10qThe mountains saw you and writhed;
the raging waters swept on;
rthe deep gave forth its voice;
sit lifted its hands on high.
11tThe sun and moon stood still in their place
uat the light of your arrows as they sped,
at the flash of your glittering spear.
12vYou marched through the earth in fury;
wyou threshed the nations in anger.
13vYou went out for the salvation of your people,
for the salvation of xyour anointed.
yYou crushed the head of the house of the wicked,
laying him bare from thigh to neck.3 Selah
14You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors,
who came like a whirlwind to scatter me,
rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret.
15zYou trampled the sea with your horses,
the surging of mighty waters.
16aI hear, and bmy body trembles;
my lips quiver at the sound;
crottenness enters into my bones;
my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet dI will quietly wait for the day of trouble
to come upon people who invade us.
17Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18eyet I will rejoice in the Lord;
fI will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19God, the Lord, is my strength;
ghe makes my feet like the deer's;
Copyright © 2024, Alistair Begg. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.