Habakkuk 3:2 - Sermon Bible Commentary

Bible Comments

Zechariah 3:2

I. The first part of the prayer is, that God would revive His work. (1) God's working is the great subject of man's study, that on which man depends, and that which conditions all man's work. (2) God waits on man's working. He initiates, and yet He waits on account of the sin and sloth and heedlessness of man, God's work seems to decline, and God seems to withdraw. It is here that the place for revival is found. (3) What a force there is in the expression when we get down to its simple meaning: Make thy work to live; put power into thy work. How often has the work seemed to have everything but life. Life comes and all is changed. Men feel that God is working. There is a sense of God's glory. There is a restlessness, and yet a deep peace, and a strong and invincible hope that truth and God shall win the day. (4) The prayer is also that God would make known,that He would not only work but reveal, not only impart energy but give those wide and clear views of truth which are the food of energy and its guide.

II. Let us inquire what weight, direction, and colouring are given to the prayer by the phrase attached to both petitions "in the midst of the years." It is evident that there is an argument or plea in the words. (1) Is there an argument in the thought that many years are gone beyond recall, and that so many years fewer are to come? (2) The midst of the years seems suggestive of the confusion and darkness of time. (3) The words speak of calamity and loss characterizing the years outwardly, but more than counterbalanced by the prosperity of God's work. (4) The fleetingness and evanescence of the years rise before us in contrast to the immutable and eternal permanence of the Divine life. (5) The monotony amid all the changefulness of life is suggested by the phrase. To break through this and escape into real change and freshness is the ever needful effort. A revival of God's work accomplishes this for us.

J. Leckie, Sermons Preached at Ibrox,p. 258.

References: Zechariah 3:2. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xii., No. 725; vol. xxv., No. 1474; J. N. Norton, Every Sunday,p. 129; J. F. Haynes, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xvii., p. 294; Preacher's Monthly,vol. vi., p. 304.

Habakkuk 3:2

2 O LORD, I have heard thy speech,a and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.