This is my prayer
After his anguished debate with God, the prophet sets out his prayer psalm. He has written it for public performance, giving instructions to the musicians. But he doesn't write sugar-coated praise, nor does he take refuge in easy triumphalism; he doesn't conceal the inner conflict of God's people, who see a world in violent and chaotic turmoil, and find it hard to see the hand of God.
He looks back on Israel's history and acknowledges God's power and sovereignty. All that happened came from his hand - the defeat of their enemies, their rescue from Egypt, plague and pestilence, torrent and tempest, and a new land. Now he leads the people in a prayer for renewal and revival, for God to act so that all can see him at work, so that none of them can doubt God's power and renown.
It's a prayer to be prayed by the assembled people of God in difficult times. How should we pray this prayer today? We need to pray with the Christians of Western Europe, a remnant surrounded by those who have rejected Christianity. We need to pray with Christians throughout the world who live in situations of tempest and flood, plague and famine, war and destruction, not unlike those that faced Habakkuk We need to pray with the persecuted church.
However, this morning I want to pray with the Christians of Iraq, many of whom have already fled Iraq as their situation becomes more precarious. These are people with an ancient Christian heritage. Pray with them in their heightened vulnerability as Christians in a Muslim land; for their compromised position because it is 'Christian' soldiers who have invaded their homeland. Pray with them as they share the trauma and uncertainty of most Iraqis who live with increasing and uncontrolled violence. Pray with them as they wonder just what the new constitution and government will mean for them, squeezed between Sunni, Shia and Kurd aspirations. Pray for them as they walk their particular way of the Cross, that they will know that the Lord walks with them. Pray that they will be encouraged and comforted by Habakkuk's psalm of confidence in the living God.
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