Habakkuk is my favorite Old Testament prophet and I recently taught through the book on Wednesday nights. I'm partial to the last few verses of chapter, which have been my "life verses" for the last 30 years, but the Lord has caused verse 2 of chapter 3 to burn in my heart the last few weeks. It is Habakkuk's prayer for the Lord to revive or repeat His awesome works which He had performed in the past. Basically this is Habakkuk's prayer for revival.
Habakkuk had seen the Lord work in the past. Scholars put the prophetic ministry of Habakkuk sometime after King Josiah had been killed in the Battle of Meggido with the Egyptians. During his reign, Josiah had led the nation of Judah in a great spiritual renewal. Under his leadership false idols had been torn down and removed from Jerusalem, the Temple had been restored, a scroll (probably the book of Deuteronomy) had been found, and there had been a covenant renewal ceremony. Though Habakkuk had not yet begun to prophesy during this time, he was a witness to work of the Lord in spiritually reviving his nation.
But after the death of Josiah, the nation took a turn for the worst. Habakkuk's book begins with a series of questions about how long he was going to have to cry out to God about the sin, wickedness and violence that permeated the community of God's people. By the time we get to chapter 3, the prophet is crying out for God to renew His great works during his days and have mercy on His people.
Revival is a work of God that always begins in burdened prayer from God's people. When God determines to revive His people, He first weighs on them to pray and cry out to Him. Every move of God in history has been preceded by desperate, persistent and focused prayer. As God has worked in the past, He still works now. If we are to see God "renew His works" and revive His people in our day, it will only come when God's people get serious about prayer.
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