Lent Midweek I
Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4
March 12, 2025
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Do you pray? I think for most of us we say, “Yes!” We pray at meals and we pray at bedtime. And we pray according to our needs. I imagine that if we asked most of our non-Christian friends, “What makes so-and-so a Christian?” Many of them would say, “Well I know that he prays.” And if our relationship is close enough to that person, they may even say, “Yes, so-and-so has prayed with me and for me when I was going through a tough time.”
Have you ever realized that praying is probably the most public display of your faith to your friends, family, classmates, and coworkers? I imagine that very few of you are reading the Scriptures out loud in a public space or that you are sharing your devotional time with others during break times. And please, do not baptize your little brothers in the lake!
As you can see, most of our faith is private. And only those who gather in this place on a regular basis really understand what you believe, what you teach, and what you confess to be the truth. Only this group really values your faithfulness to God, to His Word and Sacraments, to your giving offerings or making food.
It is time that we begin to think that our prayers are a witness to our faith in this world. If you already realized that, I am proud of you. But at least for me, it was a new thought. And I do not mean to make prayer so great and meaningful that you worry about what to pray or what to say. As you know, there are pre-written prayers and there are prayers in our own words. Both are fine outward training of faith.
But you know that when a father or a mother prays for the children, the children listen to every word and learn to pray from them. And you know that when you pray for a struggling student, it calms their fears and helps them learn and retain the lesson. And you know that when your loved one is in the hospital, that your prayer for them helps them heal.
And you know that your pastor prays for you. You know that this congregation prays for you, both publicly and privately, anytime and anywhere that you need a prayer. That’s who we are, dear people of God. We pray for one another.
Here in Habakkuk, the preacher prays for his people to God and says, O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Habakkuk prays like we so often do. He starts with questions. He asks God why He will not help them in their distress. The people were perishing, and the nation was struggling, and Habakkuk knew that only God could answer. Why aren’t you doing anything, God? That is definitely a prayer that we pray from time to time.
Habakkuk prays like we so often do. He prays for His nation, and for peace therein. Does anyone want violence? Of course not. Does anyone want war and bloodshed? Of course not. We pray for peace instead of war. We pray for tranquility instead of strife. We pray for unity and not division. We pray for what only God can do in His world for our nation.
Why do we pray for these things? What is our reason for praying about such matters? That is the next part of the prayer that Habakkuk prays today. Habakkuk explains the situation to God Most High. He says, Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. This is what Habakkuk is praying against. This is what he hopes will come to an end. But I ask you, Why do we tell God Almighty about what He already knows? And the answer to that is that God wants us to tell Him.
Does a father know what a daughter needs before she asks him for it? Of course. Does a mother know what a son needs before he asks her for it? Of course. Does this church know your needs before you ask for help? In most cases, yes. But even greater than that, there is nothing that your heavenly Father does not already know, and He can give to you whatever it is in all creation that you need.
God must answer! Take it from the prophet. God cannot make us see iniquity and sit idly by! God must make right what only He has the power to restore and reconcile.
And in the case of the text today, the Lord answered: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.”
The first part of the Lord’s response is that “he who runs may read it.” In other words, it will be written clearly and in large letters so that even the ones who are chased by the enemy in the days of Habakkuk will know the truth of God’s answer. It would be like putting the message “God answers prayers” on a big posterboard and walking through the college campus with it. It would be like putting the Gospel out into the public spaces, like we do with our prayers. It would be like our signs out front inviting people to our church to pray, and reminding them of our usual refrain, “Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.”
And the second part of the Lord’s response is that answers to your prayers arrive according to God’s timing. We want instant service and on-demand problem-solving. But sometimes our prayers need repeating because we ourselves are not ready for God’s eventual answer. God does not promise answers on our timetable or in the fashion in which we expect. How often has it been that God answers our prayers even better than imagined, even if it took a while to see God’s work in our prayers.
But the third part of the Lord’s response is far and away the most famous part of this passage. And it is the theme for this sermon and it is the theme for our prayers.
The righteous shall live by faith. This is how the Lord answered the Habakkuk prayer where he stood on the watch post and waited for the answer from the Lord about the destruction and violence that the believers were facing. In a word, “trust me, Habakkuk!”
The righteous shall live by faith. This was what Paul quoted in the book of Romans and Galatians as he proclaimed the Gospel to the new churches and explained the Christian life to God’s people. Paul himself was not righteous by his own efforts; he was a persecutor of the church until the Lord blinded him, converted him, and appointed him as the apostle to the Gentiles. Paul, like Habakkuk, constantly prayed for the congregations that he visited in each one of his epistles. It is like the Father answered his prayers and said, “Trust me, Paul!” I will care for my flock according to their needs.
The righteous shall live by faith. If there ever was an instance where public prayer became a witness to the world, it was this passage that relieved Luther and kick-started the Reformation. The church had suffered for 1500 years under a law of works, much like the early Christians did at the time of Paul in the midst of Judaism. And Luther, like Habakkuk, prayed for relief and comfort. He certainly prayed the prayer of Habakkuk that we have been studying tonight. And yet, his prayers were never good enough until this passage cleared it all up.
And so I tell you, dear people of God, the righteous shall live by faith. Never stop praying, but know for certain that the Lord will answer. And in the meantime, while you wait on the Lord, this Lord simply says, “Trust me!” And while you pray, know that you are being a witness to this community and for the sake of your neighbor.
You, like Habakkuk, Paul, and Luther before you, are not at fault for the world’s demise. You, like them, are unable to change sin, death, and the devil, destruction, or violence.
But you are saved by grace through faith, not by works, so that no one may boast. And you are God’s child, praying to your Father for everything that you need. And you are righteous because of the death of Jesus. And you are living by His holy Word each of your days. And you receive this sacrament for the forgiveness of your sins and for the life everlasting.
God will answer, and He did answer this prayer through the birth, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. And because of Him, we live in the world as His righteous people.
In the holy name of Jesus. Amen.
Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog
The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack
Rev. James Peterson
St. John Lutheran Church
Curtis, Nebraska
©2025 James Peterson. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com
