PRAISE WILL ELEVATE YOU By Rolanda Pyle
Habakkuk 3:17-19 main verses Based on the entire book of Habakkuk Habakkuk is a prophet who is having a dialogue with God. The leaders in Judah were oppressing the poor, so Habakkuk went to God asking why He allowed these wicked people to prosper. In essence, in chapter 1, Habakkuk first asked why and how long? Just like us, he wanted to know the reason and the season. First, the Lord tells him he wouldn’t understand if even if He told him; and then God tells him that the Chaldeans would come to punish the leaders in Judah. Basically, God said it’s going to get worse. Sometimes that’s the way it is with us when we are going through a trial—at the midnight hour, we pray and cry out to God and the situation gets worse. He becomes even more concerned because the Chaldeans were actually more wicked than the wicked Jewish leaders and Habakkuk didn’t understand how God could use them. Then in chapter 1 vs.12-17, Habakkuk complains.
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Notice the pattern, he moves from questioning to complaining. God’s answer was unusual. God answers that the just shall live by faith in God and that they just have to be assured that God was doing what was right. (Habakkuk 2:4) And that is difficult when we’re going through a midnight hour. He also told Habakkuk that in due time, the Chaldeans would be judged, and that justice would come about for the people of God. In chapter 2, verses 2-20, God answers Habakkuk in a vision and tells him to write it down. (That’s why it’s always good to write down a word or message that God gives that speaks to your heart, because often in difficult times we may need to refer back to it.) In chapter 3, Habakkuk responds in prayer and praise. Habakkuk gives a Shabach - speaks well of God and Todah thanksgiving for the past blessings of God. Throughout these verses, he asks God to repeat His acts of deliverance, recounting God’s redeeming acts, remembering God’s history with His people and he claims God’s strength for the present crisis. (Sometimes, we have to reflect on past victories and deliverance in our lives or those of friends and family in order to praise God now.)
