praying like habakkuk

Lord, I have heard of your fame, I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known (Habakkuk 3:2).

When we experience tough times, it’s easy to get discouraged. Discouragement simply means that we’ve lost courage. Courage to face a challenge or courage to change course. A difficult economy can even stretch the limits of a natural-born optimist, putting a damper on his or her courage.

It’s tempting when we face difficulties to begin doubting whether or not God can doing anything about what we are going through.

Habakkuk’s prayer (printed above in italics) is a reminder that we serve a God who is more than capable to not only meet our needs but to exceed them as well.

His prayer is a call to action, a plea for God to exhibit his power in Habakkuk’s day as he did in the days of Habakkuk’s ancestors. Habakkuk wasn’t satisfied only knowing about God’s fame and awesome deeds; he wanted to experience them for himself. And he wanted his community to experience it, too (“Renew them in our day, in our time make them known”).

Whenever you face a crisis or a challenge, it is an opportunity to put God’s fame and awesome power on display in your life. It is a chance for you to experience first-hand what others have experienced for themselves: the working of God in your life. Perhaps your prayer will be, “God, I’ve heard of what you’ve done in the past but I want to experience it for myself.”
When you pray that kind of prayer, be prepared to “stand in awe” just as Habakkuk did.

I might even go a step further and say that it is the responsibility of the church to seek God’s intervention on behalf of our friends and neighbors. We must ask God to renew his deeds in our day and in our time, just as Habakkuk did. Our prayer to experience the fame and power of God cannot be a selfish prayer.

When the news gets discouraging, remember to put your courage not in the stock market or Congress (!) but in the One who holds all of life in his hand.