"A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk" (Habakkuk 3:1) - Prayer and prophecy go together. Pray before preaching God's Word. Let the prayers go up to the Lord. May the power come down from the Lord. Keep on praying after the Word's been preached. Pray that the Lord will follow His Word with His blessing. "... renew... reveal... remember... " (Habakkuk 3:2). Pray that God will remember us - "remember to be merciful." Pray that He will reveal Himself to us as the living God, the God who works in our lives to change us and make us more like Himself. Pray that He will renew our life so that we are no longer walking in our own weakness. Now, we are living in His strength. "Praise... power... paths... " (Habakkuk 3:3-6), "His praise fills the earth, His brightness as the sunlight. Rays of light stream from His hand. That is where His power is hidden." We need to go to His Word. We need to let His Word shine upon us. We need to pray that His power will reach us and change us. "The ancient paths belong to Him." Which way are we to go? We are to "walk with the Lord in the light of His Word." This is the way of blessing - praising the Lord, receiving His blessing, walking in His pathway. The Lord reaches out to us with His "salvation." He comes to us with "rivers" of blessing (Habakkuk 3:8). The Lord saves us. He calls us to be His people. He anoints us, touching our lives, shaping our lives by His Holy Spirit. Why does He save us? Does He forgive our sins, and then leave us just the way we were? No! He empowers us for "action (Habakkuk 3:9). As we consider all that the Lord has done for us, is doing for us and will do for us, we learn to say, "I will be happy with the Lord, I will truly find joy in God, who saves me, The Lord Almighty is my strength... He makes me to walk on the mountains" (Habakkuk 3:18-19). There is so much in these verses to encourage us to go on with the Lord, strong in Him, strengthened by His Word and His Spirit. To God be the glory!
What God did for His people, Israel, was very great. There is a striking contrast between their slavery in Egypt and their abundance in the promised land. God had multiplied His blessing upon them, just as Jesus did when He turned water into wine (John 2:1-11). If the blessing is to be maintained and increased, we must honour the Lord. We must cry to Him for blessing: "Hear my prayer, O God, listen to the words of my mouth." We must call upon Him with faith: "Surely God is my help; the Lord is the One who sustains me" (Psalm 54:2,4).
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