Habakkuk 3:2
O LORD, I have heard thy speech, 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. O LORD, I have heard thy speech, 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.
It is a prayer asking God to bring His work to life again in the present time and to make Himself and His work known while His people wait for deliverance. It asks that when He acts in judgment He temper His wrath with mercy. It is offered in true penitence and expresses the faith and hope that sustain God's people in deep trial with confidence that He will deliver at His appointed time. Even when He shows His displeasure at lawlessness by judgments, He spares lives to give opportunity to repent and to do neglected work. Those who have received light are therefore responsible to share it rather than condemn those who have not had the same opportunity.
Prayer for Revival
Habakkuk's words are a prayer for God to renew and revive His work amid the passing years and in the present time, to send grace upon His people, and to make His work and Himself known while His people wait for deliverance. It asks that when God acts in wrath He remember mercy and temper wrath with mercy. It is the sincere prayer of those who seek the Lord in true penitence, who desire that by precept and example a high and holy ideal be kept ever before the minds and consciences of the people, and who desire through His power to reach that ideal.
It expresses the faith and hope that sustain God's people in deep trial, as in the time before the Babylonian captivity, giving confidence that God will deliver in His appointed time, and that same trust can strengthen Christians in difficult circumstances. It is set forth as a model for united, earnest prayer marked by living faith. The verses that follow portray God's glory and power, His judgment of the nations, and His going forth to save His people and His anointed, and the prophet's later joy in God remains firm even when crops and herds fail.
Mercy in Divine Judgment
Habakkuk 3:2 teaches that God manifests His displeasure at lawlessness and disregarded warnings through judgments while still sparing lives to give opportunity to repent and to do neglected work. In the San Francisco calamity He spared lives so that people would have opportunity to repent. In the fire that destroyed the Review and Herald building, understood as a signal of displeasure after warnings had been disregarded, no lives were lost, which was recognized as mercy amid that judgment leaving the workers alive to do the work they had neglected.
The same remembering of mercy amid divine wrath and judgment was shown at the Flood, when He preserved righteous Noah and his family rather than letting them perish with the wicked. In carrying out judgment on Israel's kingdom He acted gradually, allowing Menahem to remain on the throne as an Assyrian vassal when Assyria first attacked and withdrawing the Assyrians for a time after humbling the ten tribes. He pities the world as His vineyard which has not been worked and spares it to let increased light come to it. This sparing flows from a heart of divine mercy full of love and compassion for the thousands who are in ignorance of the truth, especially those who have not received the advantages given to those who know it.
Those who have received light are therefore responsible to share it rather than reject it or condemn those who have not had the same opportunity. A boat's sinking that exposed hidden defects likewise showed judgment tempered by mercy and loving-kindness when it was permitted to sink while no one was aboard, preventing loss of life.