Image: "Golden Harvest", 2020, Field Scene, Sunflower Farm, Manchester, Md
Habakkuk 3:13 You went forth for the salvation of Your people, For salvation with Your Anointed. You struck the head from the house of the wicked, By laying bare from foundation to neck. Selah
Habakkuk 3:17–19 Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
19 The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills.
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As the closing phrases, "To the Chief Musician. With my stringed instruments", make abundantly clear, this chapter is a song or Psalm. We see the musical notation "selah" at various places throughout. Habakkuk started this little book with fearful trepidation, he ends it with a glorious affirmation of trust. He has seen God's salvation and like Moses, Miriam, Hannah, David, and Mary (in her time), he had to sing.
And what a song it is!
There is no doubt in his mind as he opens these verses. God will do exactly as He said He would do. God had heard the noise of wickedness on high and was moving to judge it. As I mentioned in the last meditation, this was "Good News." The hope of all mankind hinges on this: that God is just. He is just in that He does not pass over sin but will judge it and punish unrighteousness and, God is just in that He will honor His covenant with His Son and accept the one pure and perfect Offering which He gave up on behalf of all those who have been blessed with the gift of faith. God would be unjust to no punish wickedness for which atonement has not been made. God would be unjust to punish those for whom atonement had been made. That is our rock solid ground on which to build our lives of service.
Though Habakkuk had not seen the fullness of God's saving plans for His people, yet he knew that God could be trusted for mercy. Habakkuk 3:2 O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.
Yes, God's wrath was awful to contemplate and absolute in its extension. When He "came from Teman... His glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of His praise..." (vs. 3) This was no puny idol that could not speak much less act. This God, our God, reduced the entire earth to trembling,... "the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills bowed." (vs. 6) No, there was no question that this was God... the One True God... the Eternal God to Whom all nations owe worship and allegiance. Everywhere the nations quailed before His glory and He did what He came to do. "He went forth for the salvation of (His) people... for salvation with (His) anointed... (and) struck the head from the house of the wicked." (vs. 13)
This was a vision of the great judgment that God will work in due time. Habakkuk was privileged to see the Messiah in His role as the Avenger of injustice (Cf. Rev 19:11ff), riding His white horse with the sharp sword that would strike the nations. These things did not happen when God judged His people in Jerusalem at the hand of the Babylonians. Nor was it fulfilled when God's "anointed" Cyrus, the Mede, wreaked destruction on Babylon. These events were a mere foreshadowing of what was to come and, in its fulfillment, is yet in the future.
Habakkuk saw the complete destruction of God's enemies as the persecutors of His people when God invaded the world "with His troops" (vs. 16). It was a fearsome sight. Habakkuk's body trembled. (vs. 16) But the net result was satisfying as only God's righteousness can be.
Habakkuk closes out with one of the most ringing songs of faith in all of scripture. No matter what catastrophes God wreaks upon the earth as He sets about His purposes, yet the people of God can rejoice. Though they may be hungry and destitute (vs. 17), yet they can and must "joy in the God of (their) salvation" because their strength does not come from food or flocks. Their strength comes for the LORD God (vs. 19). It is He who will give them all that they need to find their happiness and reward in Him. Truly, He will make them "walk on (our) high hills."
Habakkuk calls on God, at the beginning, to "remember mercy." He closes with the glad celebration that God's mercy is absolutely guaranteed. God's people will live by faith, live in faith, and gain eternal life through faith. The wicked world will perish but the righteous people of God have nothing to fear.
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