Scripture References: Habakkuk 3:2-6; 17-19
I suppose when honesty prompts us to address the issue of God’s vastness, we are putting forth questions to Him such as: Have we really known You, God? Have we understood You at all? How reliable are the statements we have heard made about you (and people say a lot about you, God)? It’s natural to raise these kinds of questions. Habakkuk had heard God called a God of deliverance, and he had also heard some unspeakable acts attributed to God and were called God’s judgment. So Habakkuk prayed, “O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid” (Habakkuk 3:2).
In addition to expressing Habakkuk’s wariness in coming before God, this excerpt and in the whole Book of Habakkuk reveal an underlying concern. Habakkuk wants to know why wickedness seems to swallow up justice in the world if God is any kind of God at all. God’s vastness and all that has been attributed to God caused Habakkuk to fear God, not primarily in the sense of facing possible harm at God’s hand, although this wasn’t unheard of in the prophet’s day and time, but with sufficient mystery to want to come into God’s presence and to this subject with reverent caution.
Habakkuk continues his dialogue with God by appealing to the side of God he had heard about and wanted most to believe, which he hoped against hope was the true nature of God. And, not surprising to us, it was the attribute of God which caused people to call God merciful.
Habakkuk considers the times in which he lives to be turbulent and troublesome for himself and his people. That’s what he means by the phrase, “in the midst of the years,” in verse 2b. “In the midst of the years” calls God’s attention to Habakkuk’s own time, filled with difficulty and need. Destruction and violence mar his community; strife and contention abound. Nations rage and devour those weaker than themselves. The arrogant rule, and the poor suffer. False gods are worshiped throughout the world. Thus, Habakkuk prays for God’s mercy. He also prays, if God’s wrath is somehow evoked by what he and his people are doing, let God remember mercy.
We now know that we do not have to plead with God for mercy; but for the days he was living, Habakkuk was a very forward-thinking prophet. He dared to hope that God’s mercy could prevail, though actions of human beings certainly could justify, in the reasoning of the day, acts of angry judgment on God’s part. The prophet thinks he is justified in seeing God as merciful and, thus, asking for mercy based on the dramatic display of God’s role as deliverer; this was no unrealistic hope. God had been known in history to act as deliverer. This was nowhere more clearly seen, as Habakkuk understood, than in the “Exodus,” the leading of God’s people away from Egyptian bondage. So Habakkuk calls up this image in his prayer as he works toward having his assumption become fact for him. God is pictured as a warrior. God is marching from the region of Sinai toward Edom, as God did at the exodus when the Israelites were delivered at the Red Sea. The implications in this vision are that God can again show mercy and deliver the people, and that, as had been done before, the enemies of God’s people will be overcome by God.
When God moved to deliver the people, God’s “glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise,” writes Habakkuk in verse 3. Of course, this depends on where you were and who you were. The Israelites may have noticed God’s glory in the parting of the Red Sea, but the Egyptians, as you can most likely imagine, weren’t nearly as impressed with this “God” that the Israelites were thanking as the water closed in on their heads. For the purposes of Habakkuk’s vision, God as deliverer shines when people are liberated; and when persons are liberated, the earth itself fills up with praise for Him because there is harmony with the intention of creation itself. It is evident that Nature itself, is involved in the praise.
To Be Continued
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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