Lee had been working in the same job for three decades but had lost some of his passion for his work. As a result, he planned to fast and pray for three hours every Thursday. He was asking God to give him a new vision and new passion for his work.
He asked God to renew his desire to do his job well and to give him a picture of what his future work would be. But while Lee had asked for God’s guidance for the future, instead God gave him reminder after reminder of God’s faithfulness in the past.
God brought back memories about a difficult situation he was in yet God provided a way to make it through it. God brought back memories about how the organization he worked for was struggling with finances but some money showed up to help. Lee says that week after week God didn’t tell him anything new, but simply gave Lee reminders about things he had forgotten.[1]
The reminders Lee received energized him for his work again because he was reminded about what God had done for him. It gave him hope for the future.
Sometimes we do not need “guidance for the future” or “direction and vision” but instead we simply need a reminder of God’s faithfulness in the past. Habakkuk experienced God giving him a reminder of the past in Habakkuk 3:8–15.
We read about God’s planning. “Your bow was made bare, the rods of chastisement were sworn. Selah. You cleaved the earth with rivers” (Hab 3:9).[2] The phrase, “bow made bare,”means he pulled out his powerful bow so that it’s obvious and seen. God’s ready for action.
We see the prompting of three different groups in Habakkuk 3:10–11, “The mountains saw You and quaked; the downpour of waters swept by. The deep uttered forth its voice, it lifted high its hands. Sun and moon stood in their places; they went away at the light of Your arrows, at the radiance of Your gleaming spear.”Here we see what’s called “personification” which is ascribing human characteristics or actions to inanimate objects or animals. We read that “the mountains” saw God and “quaked”(v. 10a) at the sight of God. That word “quaked” is translated from the Hebrew verb, khyl which literally means “be in labor; be in severe pain or anguish.” It describes a person twisting or turning with pain like a woman in childbirth.[3] We read that “the deep” (v. 10b) of the waters respond to God and praise God with its hands. The waters moved in recognition of God. The high waves are personified as having hands that respond to God and his commands. We read that the “sun and moon” (v. 11) follow God’s commands. The message here is that these prominent symbols of God’s created order adhere to the commands of their creator. This is a reference to when the sun stood still in Israel’s victory over the Amorites at Gideon (Josh 10:12–14)
While there is progress God is making we also see his preservation. “You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for the salvation of Your anointed. You struck the head of the house of the evil to lay him open from thigh to neck. Selah” (Hab 3:13).God’s purpose for judgment is revealed in this verse. God’s not angry at the nations, and he’s not angry at nature. He’s set about to purge wickedness from Israel and to deliver his own people. Note again, “You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for the salvation of Your anointed.” It reminds us that by preserving the nation of Israel God is maintaining the line for the eventual Messiah to come.
That term “anointed”[4]is the Hebrew word, mesika and is used thirty-nine times in the Old Testament. At least nine times the use is specifically describing a royal figure sent by God in the future who would bring salvation to the people and the world while establishing peace and justice.[5] These verses predict Jesus was coming to preserve the nation of Israel through the punishment described next. By preserving Israel, God is preserving the line that will produce the Messiah.
Next Habakkuk is reminded about enemies that have been destroyed. “You pierced with his own spears the head of his throngs. They stormed in to scatter us; their exultation was like those who devour the oppressed in secret. You trampled on the sea with Your horses, on the surge of many waters” (Hab 3:14–15). Here we see the enemy destroyed. “They stormed in to scatter us” is a possible reference to Egypt pursuing Israel at the Red Sea (Exod 14:5–9). Those who sought to destroy Judah will destroy themselves with their own weapons. “on the sea . . . many waters” is God’s picture of victory over the horses and soldiers that tried to pursue the nation of Israel through the Red Sea (Exod 14:15–18; 15:8–10).
These amazing acts of God gives us faith for the future. God is showing Israel here that there have been many times that he’s protected them, and he will continue to protect them. God led Israel out of Egypt, God parted the Red Sea, God destroyed the Egyptian army, and God defeated the Amorites at Gibeon (Josh 10:6—12:7).[6]
Notice what we see today: Israel is still a nation, 2,600 years later. God has miraculously preserved the nation of Israel. Those acts of God to preserve Israel gives Israel and us faith for the future. It tells us that God will sustain us through hard times, that he will preserve us through trials, and that he will see us through till the end of those difficult times. Pastor James Montgomery Boice taught that these acts of God “provide the kind of deliverance from fear and provision of inner moral fortitude we need in bad times.”[7]
Sometimes we need to keep track of those mighty acts. Maybe we do it with a journal or notebook. Maybe we read books about Christians and their stories as a way to remind us about God’s faithful acts on behalf of his people.
We might not always see what is in the future, but we trust God will take us through what is in the future because of what we know God has done in the past. God’s past faithfulness gives us the basis for future confidence.
[1] Lee Eclov, Shepherding the Shepherd: Devotions for a Pastor’s Soul (Wheaton, IL: Christianity Today, 2021), 71.
[2] Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.
[3] J. Ronald Blue, “Habakkuk,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 1520.
[4] See Michael Rydelnik, The Messianic Hope: Is the Hebrew Bible Really Messianic? (Brentwood, TN: B&H Books, 2010), 2. That term is never used to refer to the nation of Israel. It always appears “singular.”
[5] See 1 Sam 2:10, 35; Pss 2:2; 20:6; 28:8; 84:9; Hab 3:13; Dan 9:25,26. Also note 2 Sam 22:51; 23:1; Pss 89:51.
[6] I like what David Jeremiah writes about these verses, “Habakkuk pictures the Lord coming in judgment, but he does so by using images from the past: God came from Teman, from Mount Paran (3:3; Deut 33:2); He allowed pestilence and earthquakes (Ex. 12:29, 30; 19:18); He caused the land of Midian to tremble (Ex. 15:14–16); God parted the Red Sea and the Israelites walked through (3:8; Ex. 14:15–31); God caused the sun and moon to stand still in a victory at Gibeon (3:111; Josh. 10:12, 13); God delivered His people from Pharaoh (3:13; Ex. 14:5–14). These divine interventions must have resonated with Habakkuk’s audience, for the images reminded them that the God of Moses , who had delivered His people from Egypt, was alive and well and would again reveal Himself in power against their enemies (1:12; 3:6)” (Jeremiah Study Bible, 1228).
[7] James Montgomery Boice, Minor Prophets: Micah–Malachi, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006), 430.