The missing piece we need in our image of God
Hab 3:1-15
Among secular people today, as well as among many Christians, God is viewed as good, loving and kind, close when we need Him and caring for us. Our church buildings also reflect this perspective – they tend to be close and intimate as we want God to be. Compare this to the soaring cathedrals of medieval times that inspire awe at the majesty and greatness of God, and you get the picture. My point is not that one perspective is better than the other, but that we need to keep both in mind. It is only when we are aware of His immense power that we can fully appreciate His amazing grace in stooping down to our level and only when we know His closeness and caring that His splendour will not deter us from approaching Him with confidence. As Habakkuk reflects on the message he has so far received, he is in awe of God (Hab 3:2). Seeing what the Lord will do in bringing judgment on the evil oppressors, however, reminds the prophet that the God of justice also judges His own people. Thus, he cries out for the Lord’s compassion, for a reviving of His work (of deliverance), as He had done in the past.
His glorious presence
What follows is a vision of God appearing (a theophany) that evokes His glorious presence with His people in the exodus. The wilderness of Paran was the next place Israel journeyed through after they had come out of Egypt and left Sinai (Num 10:12), while Teman was in the territory of Edom (Jer 49:7), south-east of the Dead Sea and on Israel’s route towards Canaan. Thus, God’s coming from these places with the brightness and radiance of the sun (Hab 3:3-4) reminds Israel of God’s might manifested through their great story of deliverance and journey to the Promised Land. The reference to pestilence and plague (Hab 3:5) again points to the Lord’s power in bringing Egypt to its knees. Finally, both nature and the nations tremble and quake (Hab 3:6-7), as they encounter God’s formidable presence.
The Divine Warrior
The rest of our reading (vv.8-15) describes God as a Divine Warrior who rides in a chariot (Hab 3:8) carries a bow, arrows and a spear (Hab 3:9,11) and fights for the salvation of His people and the anointed king (Hab 3:13). The watery images (rivers, sea, waters; Hab 3:8-10, 15) evoke the crossing of the sea in the exodus, but they also carry connotations of chaos and God’s mastery over it. In both Canaanite and Babylonian mythology, the river and sea were symbolic of the forces that worked to undo order in the universe. While Israel did not believe in these stories, the association of water with chaos was part of the thought world that they lived in.[1] Thus, God is master over the natural world and powerful forces and over peoples. Nothing can stand in His way and His purpose is to deliver His own.
Knowing His power and His saving love
Habakkuk’s engagement with God is a useful corrective to us, who tend to focus on His immanence (His closeness as ‘God with us’). There is room for us to recognise the Lord’s awesome power that silences us and puts us in our place. Who are we to judge His actions or question their rightness? When we look at nature, we see the devastation it can cause from earthquakes to tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and tropical storms. Observing it, we get a sense of how immense the forces are around us and these are only created things. How much more powerful is our God, who put them into place! Yet, Habakkuk’s vision also helps us see that the Lord of the universe is not against us but for us, if we belong to Him. He fights for the salvation of His people, He is their champion, their rescuer, the one who deals with the evil that threatens to devour them. May this image of God make us both humble and hopeful, so we grow in trust and rely on Him.
[1] This is similar to how secular culture today borrows biblical imagery and quotations without believing in the Bible or often without ever having read it. Comments like ‘the writing is on the wall’ (Dan 5:5), ‘pride comes before the fall’ (Prov 16:18), or ‘forbidden fruit’ (Gen 3:3) are examples of this.
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