Daily Devotional | The Lord’s Glorious Splendor

Kenny Lofton was my favorite baseball player. As he was nearing retirement, I got to watch him play in person, and it was as cool as I’d imagined. But seeing your favorite athlete, no matter how incredible, is nothing like what Habakkuk describes today as he reflects on the Lord’s glorious splendor.

Habakkuk begins this section by saying, “LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD” (v. 2). But just the knowledge of God’s past deeds was not enough for Habakkuk. No, the prophet wanted to see God’s work in his own day: “Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy” (v. 2). Habakkuk knew that God had promised to bring judgment on the people of Judah as well as His chosen instruction of discipline—the people of Babylon. He implores the Lord to be consistent with His character and to act as He had already acted, that is, to remember mercy in His wrath.

The next several verses describe the awesome power of the Lord. The Lord is so great that His “glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth” (v. 3). God’s “splendor was like the sunrise” and “rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden” (v. 4). The prophet tells us that the Lord “shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed” (v. 6). This is a God much mightier than even the mighty Babylonian Empire—and more powerful than any enemy we could face today.

Habakkuk agonized over the injustice he saw in his people (1:2–4), as well as over how God promised to discipline His people (1:12–2:1). But all of that pales in comparison to the Lord’s awesome power and splendor!