We in the modern western nations stand in a position similar to that of Habakkuk in ancient times. As we examine our own culture we observe that the majority of 'Christian churches' are distant from believing Scriptural doctrine and keeping God's commandments. Governmental and educational systems are hostile to God's truth. Therefore immorality is rampant and genuine Christians are despised. Every institution of our society is enfeebled through drifting without a moral compass.

At the same time, as we look in the direction of the eastward nations we observe self-conscious enemies to the foundations of western civilization rising. God is raising up fierce destructive powers who worship false gods. They are brutal and aggressive; they are instilling in their people hatred toward both the God of our fathers and the corrupted descendants of these fathers, who can neither comprehend their danger nor rouse themselves to repentance or even to self-defence.

Habakkuk asked in his first prayer 'how long' (1:2) God would do nothing about the evils in Israel. The King of glory broke his silence to say that 'soon' (verse 6) Habakkuk's land would be chastised with the rod of Babylonian cruelty. God's answer and action were to be seen in international affairs. Not a native godly prophet, effective in preaching, but a pitiless, savage army from afar would correct God's unfaithful people. We have no such revelation for today; but we do have the precedent of God's former ways to make us fear.

Under the shock of a revelation so calamitous for Judah Habakkuk prayed again. It is our second recorded prayer of his book (Hab. 1:12-2:1). So too should we pray under the twin clouds of deepening departure from God and his ways in our homelands and of threatenings of war from foreign powers. Judah's prophet may give form to appropriate modern prayers in circumstances similar to his own.

Habakkuk's Conception of Prayer⤒🔗

Habakkuk was persuaded that what was happening in his beloved fatherland was under the dominion of God's throne. Furthermore what was revealed of the future history of the nations fell under God's direct authority. The clash of powerful armies on earth represented the unfolding of God's holy will. Jehovah is a most pure spiritual Being whose purposes come to pass upon the earth.

Therefore there is no more vital activity that Habakkuk can undertake than conversation with the One who directs current events. Similarly, although we may be perplexed at God's direction of history and may be unable to comprehend why he is doing as he does, there must never be a question that in prayer we speak with the Creator of heaven and earth. Our discussion engages the Person presiding over future events. Even when we and Habakkuk do not receive exactly what we want from God, the Most High over our times and nations is listening to us and answering.

Furthermore the Most High God employs human prayer in executing his purposes. God invites and commands human words of discussion with him to serve as a means to accomplishing his divine decrees. Prayer links the human mind and the divine mind in accomplishing God's mighty acts. Of course we contribute no wisdom or power to God's governance. Yet, prayer makes human will and divine will flow together in directing the planet earth. It is God who devised prayer before his throne to be involved in the carrying through of his workings. His is all the power and glory, but he invites us by prayer to participate in the decisions of his heavenly throne.

Failure to hold such a view of prayer makes men dull and silent as they come to pray. Such ignorance empties church prayer meetings. It robs men of hope that things will change in the future. Without prayer men move about as uninvolved robots in their rounds of life. Earthbound men are out of touch with the Father of spirits. Their atrophied souls lie unused.

We were made in the image of God to commune with him, speaking with him whose arm directs all events. How many believers chatter to other men about national moral crises and international threats poised to crush God's people! Nonetheless, too many have fled from God's throne room where their voices would do much good.

Prayer: Rehearsing Truths of Which We Are Certain←⤒🔗

In our most desperate hours there are truths of which we are fully assured. These should be affirmed to the Lord.

Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? … O LORD … O Rock…Habakkuk 1:12

With warm affection Habakkuk expressed direct attachment to the Most High. You are my God and my Holy One. I cleave to you in these distressing hours. Our bond is not broken. When all else gives way You, O Lord, are the Rock upon which I have firm footing.

God's sovereignty reaches back to eternity. His purposes, even to appoint wild, heathen Babylonians to attack and to dismantle Judah, were no hasty decision of the moment. Yet, in the same recesses of eternity God's purposes of grace were linked with the seed of Abraham and the seed of David. Thus the affirmation, 'We shall not die.' Whatever disasters befell Israel at the hands of marauders, the people of God could not be exterminated. Just so in modern times the very gates of Hell cannot prevail against Christ's church. These things are certainties. Though Judah then and the church now may be rebuked and corrected by fearful enemies at God's appointment, they will never be annihilated. His word has told us of his everlasting designs for them.

Sometimes in prayer we must restate our deepest convictions. It is not merely a remedial exercise for ourselves. If we intend to wrestle with God, making complaints about his providences, we must lay a proper foundation of submission and trust for our prayers.

Prayer: Grappling with God in Protest against His Chosen Correction of Judah←⤒🔗

In verse 12, Habakkuk called the Lord 'my Holy One'. The prophet was utterly confident that his God was holy. From this bedrock certainty he would launch questions about God's revealed purposes.

You are of purer eyes than to behold evil,
And cannot look on wickedness.
Why do You look on those who deal treacherously,
And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours
A person more righteous than he?Habakkuk 1:13

In context the words translated 'behold' and 'look on' would better be translated 'countenance'. Of course we know that God 'sees' every wicked act of both man and demon. Yet the Almighty cannot look on them with approval or favour. How can God see and hold his tongue when the evil devour those more righteous than they? At this point the grappler (Habakkuk) has taken hold of God's holiness to argue against the Lord's plan to use the Babylonian army to ravage Judah. What a bold statement made to the very face of the Almighty!

It seemed to Habakkuk that God's tolerance of Babylon was inconsistent with his holiness. The Lord was allowing the more wicked to swallow up the lesser. Where is God's holiness in this? Especially God's intention to be silent ('hold your tongue')? One who witnesses a sin and remains silent partakes of the guilt of the sin (Lev. 5:1). How could God keep quiet as Nebuchadnezzar swallowed Jerusalem and marched righteous Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Ezekiel off into exile? Silent while holy Jeremiah poured out lamentations?

The prophet in prayer then poetically elaborated the holocaust which Judah would soon endure. Because of our short-sightedness toward the sweep of history we refer to the atrocities of Hitler's third Reich against the Jews as the holocaust.

It was only one of many. There was a holocaust for the Jews under Assyria, one under Babylon, one under Rome, and another perpetrated during the Second World War. It remains true in our day that shrill anti-Semitism threatens the Jews of Israel and elsewhere.

Habakkuk gave us a vivid and accurate description of Babylonian conquest. Men made in the image of God would be caught like fish, with hooks and dragnets. Babylonian art pictured these aftermaths of victory in the same terms. Those captured and marched off into captivity were strung together with literal hooks thrust through each person's lower lip. Such cruelty was proudly celebrated by the captors. No pity was shown to the defeated. False gods were worshipped as giving Babylon remarkable power over a multitude of nations as they relentlessly 'fished' for more victims. The prophet prays against the worst of human depravity that was crushing the civilized world.

A Step Back←⤒🔗

Habakkuk was fully aware that his boldness in prayer bordered on brazenness before God. He had not quite charged God with sin. He did, however, argue that the means the Lord chose to chasten Judah were apparently inconsistent with his holiness. Still, the man of prayer fully expected the dialogue to continue. God would answer the prayer. The prophet took a defensive stance expecting God to rebuke him for such brashness:

I will stand my watch
And set myself on the rampart,
And watch to see what He will say to me,
And what I will answer when I am corrected.Habakkuk 2:1

God answers prayer. Do you watch and wait for divine replies? When you are bold and pleading with God, do you think that your ignorant and wilful assertions before the throne of heaven may draw the Father's displeasure? Do you brace yourself for an unfavourable answer? There are undulations of spirit in which we boldly plead our cause (especially as massive human disasters are near), and then we stand in fear that even our prayers have not pleased the Lord.

At this point the dialogue is not completed. God has more to say. So does Habakkuk.