Daily Thought

Habakkuk continues his exultant psalm.

In verses 7 to 15, he celebrates the victories of God. The Lord is dramatically portrayed as the divine warrior, Exod. 15. 3.

The prophet weaves a glorious tapestry with the threads drawn from stirring events in Israel’s past. The Exodus and the conquest of Canaan are depicted. God triumphs at the Red Sea. He opens up the Jordan. The sun and moon stand still at His command. All the forces of nature are under His control. The Lord subdues His foes in His all-conquering march. Throughout, He acts for the salvation of His people.

But this history is also prophecy, for this mighty psalm looks to the destruction of Babylon as its immediate fulfilment and beyond that, to the final triumph of God in the end times. Victory is assured, for God will vindicate the cause of His people and above all of His anointed One, the Christ, v. 13.

Habbukuk celebrates God’s faithfulness as well as His power. God did not intervene in nature because He had a conflict with rivers or seas. These miracles of natural upheaval took place because of the faithfulness of God to His sworn word, v. 9. God’s promises cannot fail. He will not break His word nor can He be forced to break it.

No wonder Habakkuk rejoices in the Lord in the final stanza of his psalm, in verses 16 to 19. In one of the most beautiful passages in scripture, these moving verses express his confidence in God. The prophet trembles at the prospect of devastation facing his land. He foresees a situation which could not be any worse. Yet even if he loses everything, he still has his God and God is sufficient. Nothing can shake a personal relationship with the living God. This brings strength in weakness, joy in distress and deliverance in disaster.

Even in the blackest hours of life we can share with Habakkuk a trembling, yet confident, faith in the God of our salvation.