THE GOD OF MY SALVATION

Habakkuk’s psalm in chapter 3 is essentially a song of’salvation’. He employs this precious word four times, vv. 8,13, and 18. On this last occasion he personalises the blessing. It was the ‘salvation of thy people’, v. 13; now it is ‘my salvation’. His deliverance comes from a divine source. He speaks of the ‘God of my salvation’ and there is gladness in such a blessing, v. 18.

This is the seventh and final Old Testament reference to this very expression, ‘the God of my salvation’. It is most interesting and refreshing to review the various connections in which this combination occurs. In the midst of life’s dangers, David acknowledges the protection afforded and exclaims, ‘the Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted’, Ps. 18. 46. When decisions are made about life’s path, David requests, ‘Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation’, Ps. 25. 5. Life can also bring its situations of desertion. Others may forsake us but David asks for the presence of this God, ‘thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation’, Ps. 27. 9. Even when disobedience has taken place, forgiveness can be found if there is true confession and repentance. This was the pardon David discovered when he cried ‘Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation’, Ps. 51.14. In the midst of darkness there is always an ear to hear our cry of need. So the poet found, ‘O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee’, Ps. 88.1. When the prophet Micah was surrounded by betrayal and deception, even in his own family members, this God was his comfort and help for ‘I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me’, Micah 7. 7.

Now we come to this climatic and jubilant statement of Habakkuk’s trust and triumph, ‘Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation’, Hab. 3. 17-18. Dearth, desolation and even death cannot stifle Habakkuk’s joy in such a delivering God.