What does Habakkuk 3:17-18 mean?

It means joy in God that does not depend on circumstances. Habakkuk pictures total loss, failed crops and empty stalls, then says, 'Yet I will rejoice in the LORD.' His joy rests not in God's gifts but in God himself, the God of his salvation.

What does Habakkuk's prayer teach about faith?

That faith can wrestle honestly with God, as Habakkuk does through his book, and still arrive at unshakeable worship. True joy is anchored in who God is, so that even when everything is stripped away, the soul can still say 'yet I will rejoice.'

A prayer of the Bible

Habakkuk's Prayer

Prayed by Habakkuk · Habakkuk 3:17-18

Habakkuk's closing prayer (Habakkuk 3:17-18) is joy that does not depend on circumstances: even if the crops fail and the flocks die and everything collapses, 'yet I will rejoice in the LORD.' It is worship anchored not in what God gives but in who God is.

The prayer

“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”Habakkuk 3:17-18

The moment, and what it teaches

Habakkuk is the book of a man arguing with God. It opens with the prophet's bitter complaints, why do you allow injustice, why are the wicked winning, and he does not pretend otherwise. But by the end, having wrestled honestly, he arrives at one of the highest peaks of faith in all of Scripture, and it is not a peak of good fortune. It is a peak reached with nothing in his hands.

He lists total collapse, deliberately: no blossom, no fruit, no oil, no crops, no flock, no herd. In an agricultural world, that is everything, ruin down to the last resource. And then the word the whole book has been climbing toward: 'Yet.' 'Yet I will rejoice in the LORD.' Not because the fields recovered. They did not. His joy has been moved off of what God provides and onto who God is, 'the God of my salvation,' and there nothing can reach it. This is the prayer for the diagnosis, the empty account, the loss that did not get reversed, and it teaches the deepest secret of a settled soul.

Move your joy off of what God gives and onto who God is, and there is nothing left that can reach it.

✝

Pray it yourself

These prayers were not written to be admired from a distance. They were prayed by frightened, hoping, ordinary people, and the same God still listens. The Living Bread is a quiet place to pray, to be prayed for, and to learn to talk with God honestly, at your own pace.

Learn to pray Living Bread on the web iPhone Android Jesus in Gethsemane

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Frequently asked questions

What does Habakkuk 3:17-18 mean?: It means joy in God that does not depend on circumstances. Habakkuk pictures total loss, failed crops and empty stalls, then says, 'Yet I will rejoice in the LORD.' His joy rests not in God's gifts but in God himself, the God of his salvation.
What does Habakkuk's prayer teach about faith?: That faith can wrestle honestly with God, as Habakkuk does through his book, and still arrive at unshakeable worship. True joy is anchored in who God is, so that even when everything is stripped away, the soul can still say 'yet I will rejoice.'

More prayers of the BibleJesus in Gethsemane Jonah's prayer It Is Well With My Soul All the prayers