“A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth. LORD, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy. God comes from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His splendor covers the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise…. Did the LORD rage against the rivers, or was Your anger against the rivers, or was Your wrath against the sea, that You rode on Your horses, on Your chariots of salvation?” (Hab 3:1-3, 8).
In the final chapter of the book, we are privileged to see Habakkuk’s spiritual metamorphosis. He moves from a man who accuses God of not hearing (1:2a) and not saving (1:2b) to a man who is himself finally hearing the LORD (3:2, 16) and anticipating the LORD’s coming with chariots of “salvation” (3:8). In place of violence and injustice (1:2-4), Habakkuk now sees God coming as the earth shouts in praise (3:3).
While lamenting was, and still is, a critical tool in Habakkuk’s arsenal of spiritual disciplines, he had to stop crying out to God in order to hear what God wanted to tell him.
So what happened? Did God change Habakkuk’s circumstances? Had He removed all the terrible things the prophet was complaining about? No. The circumstances remained the same. What changed was Habakkuk himself. He had internalized the vision and its interpretation (2:2) and was empowered to run (2:2) the race of faith (2:3-4).
As it turns out, it was not God who needed a hearing test (1:2), but Habakkuk (3:2, 16). While lamenting was, and still is, a critical tool in Habakkuk’s arsenal of spiritual disciplines, he had to stop crying out to God in order to hear what God wanted to tell him. Faith comes from hearing, not from crying (Rom 10:18). After we have honestly poured out our hearts to God concerning all the ways He seems to have failed to live up to our theological expectations and demands, we must quiet ourselves before an open Bible long enough to hear Him speak.
“When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the last days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice. For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them” (Deut 4:30-31).
