Wait Quietly

Dr. Alan J. Dunn

Part 5 Habakkuk 3:16

If the Lord is in his holy temple [Hab 2:20], and if in New Covenant worship, we have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel [Heb 12:22-24], then, I submit to you, worship is THE most important thing we do during our brief life lived in the midst of the years.[1]

We have received Habakkuk’s encouragements to obtain an eternal perspective, to persevere in hearing God’s Word, to persevere in prayer, and to live by faith. Habakkuk also instructs us to life a life of faith marked by faithful worship. Even in the turmoil of virulent violence and egregious evil, Habakkuk exhorts us by his example to persevere in worship. All other lesser obligations and responsibilities must be submitted beneath our supreme allegiance to our Lord, which we express and experience together in His presence in corporate worship. Habakkuk’s voice comes to us from the ruins of Jerusalem’s demise brought on by her apostasy and false worship. We are wise to hear him.

Habakkuk Encourages Us to Persevere in Corporate Worship

Lord, I have heard the report about You, and I fear [3:2a]. Those who hear, truly hear, are not flippant and nonchalant, they fear. They hear and see the recorded vision of the arrival of King Jesus at the appointed time as the cosmos is purged and purified, as created things shake and are removed. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire [see Heb 12:26-29]. What are we to do knowing of the cosmic impact of the return of Christ? Worship. Habakkuk responds to this revelation of the Second Coming with worship, and he summons us, the believing remnant, to join him.

¹⁶I heard and my inward parts trembled, at the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us.¹⁷Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls,¹⁸yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.¹⁹The Lord GOD is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places. For the choir director, on my stringed instruments [Hab 3:16-19].

I heard and my inward parts trembled. Habakkuk prays and sings with quivering lips. He is working out his salvation with fear and trembling [Phil 2:12], and so must we. In a fallen world subject to violence and injustice, false prophets and apostasy, wars and rumors of wars, plagues, and catastrophes; in a world of woes, we will yet exult in the Lord and rejoice in the God of our salvation.

Here is a rich vein of Scriptural truth to mine. There is, for the people of faith, a wonderful correlation between vital worship and victorious warfare. The Lord we worship is our strength. He makes our feet like hind’s feet and makes us walk on our high places. He enables us to climb up, above the fray with hind legs like mountain goats, like little pistons, popping us upward, forward to worshipful victory. High places are positions of military advantage in battle. They are also locations where Israel used to worship. True, they were known to worship idols in high places, but they also worshiped the Lord there as well. It could be, upon seeing the destruction of the temple, that Habakkuk expected that he would have to worship once again in high places [see 1 Kgs 3:2].

Worship and warfare? But Habakkuk is trembling as he experiences the horrors of invasion. Look at his agonizing situation. Look at his subjective angst. Worship? While everything inside is quivering and everything outside is quaking? When Habakkuk tells us that he must wait quietly [v.16], he is telling us that it is as we worship that the Lord accomplishes our victory in the war with evil and death. Wait quietly translates a Hebrew verb which is found some 144 times in the Old Testament. It means to rest. The New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis offers four nuances to this term, which give us insight into what Habakkuk resolves to do.

To wait quietly, first of all, involves submission. Habakkuk assumes a passive, receptive posture and submits to the Lord’s discipline. He is no longer arguing, questioning, debating, and wrestling. He waits quietly in submission.

To wait quietly, secondly, connotes security: to set in place, to be situated in safety and peace, protected from enemies and harm. It is a term often used to speak of the Lord bringing Israel into the Promised Land. To wait quietly is to embrace your God-appointed place. What is Habakkuk’s God-appointed place? The temple. He is a priest. His place is with the worshipers of the Lord in the temple.

To wait quietly, thirdly, is to keep the Sabbath. To wait quietly is to experience the vivifying refreshment of the presence of the living God who is pleased to dwell among His people. Habakkuk determines to walk on his high places, keeping Sabbath cadence, moving through the wilderness of this age with his Lord, who is hastening history to His appointed goal – His eternal Sabbath of resurrection rest. Habakkuk does not allow secular historians to define his life and times. The news broadcasts violence, injustice, wars, economic crisis, and political turmoil. Habakkuk is not unconcerned or mindlessly oblivious to what is happening. It causes him to tremble, but he does so in his place, waiting quietly.

Finally, to wait quietly is the vocabulary of sacrificial worship. It is a term used for the menu of worship, for sacrifices offered for the atonement of sin, and then eaten as a holy meal in the presence of the Lord. It is also associated with the propitiation of divine wrath by sacrifice. When we read of the soothing aroma of worship in the Lord’s nostrils, we are not to think in sensual terms, but to know that the wrath of God is soothed, quieted by the propitiatory sacrifices which He Himself provides and prescribes for his people. When David, in Psalm 23, extols the Lord his Shepherd, who leads him by quiet waters, he uses this term. As we feed in green pastures and drink from quiet waters, we sit at the table spread for us by the Lord in the presence of our enemies. We worship in the midst of war and celebrate our victory in Christ.

The contrast between all that Habakkuk sees in Habakkuk 3:3-15 and his resolve in v.16 to wait quietly is jarring. The Lord arrives to do battle as a huge colossus dressed as a warrior, equipped with an arsenal of weapons. He stands atop creation as the cosmos convulses in movements that recall the original creation, the flood, and the Exodus. In the presence of the Lord, all else collapses into prostrate submission as the Warrior God arrives to judge His enemies and deliver His people. The scene of 3:15 is full of fury. The elements swirl past the eye of the prophet as he sees the cataclysmic climax of history on the day of our Lord’s return. But He is Habakkuk’s Lord. He is our Lord. Are You not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O Lord… You, O Rock… my Lord and my God… my Savior, the God of peace, and life, and love.

With the eyes of faith, Habakkuk focuses on YHWH, his God whom he loves and adores, who has given Habakkuk His covenant love. He is the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” And like Moses, Habakkuk made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship [Exo 34:6-8]. He has come to judge the guilty. They will be held guilty, they whose strength is their god [Hab 1:11]. But to His believing people, He reveals His abounding lovingkindness. He forgives sin. He is compassionate and gracious. His people trust Him. The righteous shall live by faith. They make haste to bow low toward the earth and worship. They wait quietly.

But Habakkuk’s circumstances are anything but what we would call “quiet.” Habakkuk’s immediate future is bleak. He yet faces the day of distress. He still expects a people to arise who will invade us. He anticipates how war will ravage the rural landscape of Judah, decimating the agricultural economy and the cattle industry. He sees both apocalyptic vision and historical reality and he physically convulses in horror. I heard and my inward parts trembled, at the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble. Habakkuk is not in denial, naively sticking his head in the sand. He is looking into the face of death with the courage of overcoming faith. We will not die. What should he do? What must he do? I must wait quietly for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us.

He resolves to be found in my place, that is, the temple, the place of worship. He resolves to wait quietly, that is, to rest submissively and be refreshed and sustained by the Lord of the Sabbath whose blessing is life.

“The LORD bless you, and keep you. The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you. The LORD lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace.’ “So [the priests] shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.” [Num 6:24-27].

He resolves to be blessed. He resolves to worship. Habakkuk 3 is a hymn meant to be sung in corporate worship. For the choir director, on my stringed instruments [3:19] brings us to this conclusion. The use of the term Selah [at 3:3, 9, and 13] indicates points at which there would be an instrumental interlude. That Old Covenant worship included a Levitical choir, and the use of musicial instruments is evident. King Hezekiah refers to stringed instruments in Isaiah 38:20; The Lord will surely save me, so we will play my songs on stringed instruments all the days of our life at the house of the Lord. It is significant that Habakkuk 3 is a hymn composed for corporate worship in the temple.

These are threatening days. We are liable to tremble with bone-deep dread if we take our eyes off of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must wait quietly – in our place and we will be blessed in the embrace of Christ’s saving love which gives us Sabbath life. For in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us [Rom 8:37].

[1] Your personal reading of Habakkuk as you consider the content of this article will bring additional benefit. Habakkuk and other Scriptures are frequently referenced using italicized words.

First article: Lord! Look! Violence and Injustice!

Second article: Read and Run

Third article: The Silent Serenity of Sovereignty

Fourth article: The Righteous Shall Live By Faith

The following books by Dr. Alan J. Dunn are available at Trinity Book Service and Cristianismo Histórico: