Hab 3:2  LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.

     

This might certainly be a prayer for our day. Lord, says Habakkuk, I have heard of your fame. We have a book – the Bible – full of the workings of God through Israel and then through the early church. The Lord stands out in this book as the Almighty One, the Holy One of Israel, the Creator of the World, the One who upholds this world by the word of His power, the redeemer of the world - and much more!

We have accounts of His deeds in creating the world, in later calling Abram and making a childless couple the parents of a future nation. We see Him delivering Israel out of Egypt by mighty acts. We see Him taking them into the Promised Land by more mighty acts. Throughout the Old Testament His hand upon the nation is obvious and we see many mighty deeds, and we stand in awe.

 

And then we come to the New Testament and the coming of Jesus, and we see many wonderful miracles performed, many wonderful healings, and even people being raised from the dead, and then comes his death and the resurrection, the ascension and the pouring out of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. We then watch His power flowing through His early church and we stand in awe.

 

Then we look at our own day, where the judgment of God upon a largely foolish and ungodly people seems obvious to many of us. Come again Lord, we cry inwardly, but although as nations we deserve your wrath, please have mercy on us. We can ask for nothing less. It must be our cry in the twenty first century. Let us pray! But there is a danger! We trust only in prayer but we are called to be a people who both pray and do. Obedience is a common word in the New Testament and we are called to be those who will be channels of His power so His deeds will be seen in and through us. Such is the calling of the Church.