Don't fight God's plan

Praying for the light at the end of the tunnel.

That's where Habakkuk finds himself in chapter three.

LORD, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy. (Habakkuk 3:2)

Habakkuk knows that calamity is coming. He knows that soon Judah will come out of the tunnel of sin that they've been slogging along in, and God's power will be seen. A loose paraphrase of the start of this prayer would be that Habakkuk is saying, I've heard and read about your power and might, Lord. I know that bad times are coming -- and I accept that.

He isn't fighting God's plan.

But he is asking for mercy in the midst of judgment. "Don't let the Babylonians wipe us out!"

He asks the Lord to be merciful in the midst of His wrath.

And ya know what? 
That is a perfectly biblical prayer. He's being honest (and desperate).

Hannah was a desperate woman who prayed.

    those who oppose the Lord will be broken.
The Most High will thunder from heaven;
    the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.

“He will give strength to his king
    and exalt the horn of his anointed.” (I Samuel 2:10)

Hannah also prayed about nations and judgment; an honest prayer that reminds all who read it of the might of the Lord.

In I Kings, chapter 8, Solomon prays an honest prayer about God's mercy in the midst of judgment:

Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. (I Kings 8:30)

In Isaiah 6, the prophet prays and asks the Lord "how long" His judgment will last. All of these are honest prayers. They are the kind of prayers that God will answer.

I hope that you have already read the third chapter of Habakkuk. Did you notice that he asks God to do in his day what He had done in the past? Twice he asks, "do it .....in our time."

This can be the prayer of every believer in this moment of our history. It seems that each day brings more stories of persecution of Christians, Isis' reign of terror as they behead believers, teachers, whoever will not bow the knee to them. No one seems to know how to stop these people who kill in the name of Islam. We truly live in dangerous times, and we read Habakkuk's prayer in the same sort of environment as the one in which he uttered it. 

Many Christians realize the danger; they ask what they can do. Some tell us that we are on the brink of a great revival. I hope so! When we read about the Great Awakenings, the 1904 revival that spread around the world, we realize that they came about in times of danger. Times when people were desperate for God to change things.

Some people may say revival like those is not possible today.

I can understand people thinking that way. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the world situation and give in to doubt. But revivals do usually come in desperate times. God moves in power and might when things are dire and His people pray.  Revival is like our faith -- it comes from God. He can send revival fire from His throne in heaven any time He wants. Believers like us can put the kindling in place!

We must be certain that we are ready, too. There is an old Chinese prayer that says: "O Lord, change the world. Begin, I pray, with me."

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, (Acts 3:19)

Our greatest challenge may be the person looking back at us in the mirror. Let's not fight God's plan. Let's pray and ready ourselves for revival.