In Jesus Name

Scripture Reading: Habakkuk 2

Chapter 2 of Habakkuk begins with the prophet imagining himself as a watchman on a city tower looking out over the landscape for the approach of the answer of God to his complaint. He likely didn’t understand that a part of the Lord’s answer, which did come to him, would reverberate throughout church history, be enshrined in crucial New Testament texts (Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews), and become the catalyst for a Reformation that would shape, not only the church but the world.

Habakkuk’s description of how he watched for an answer to his complaints that are found in the first chapter is a description of faith. He had faith that God would answer his prayer. Therefore, he was watching for the answer to come to him. And it did. “The Lord answered me,” he wrote (2:2).

I confess that I too often have prayed without expecting an answer. I asked and never expected God to answer. That is unbelief. But when I ask what the nature of my unbelief is, I realize it isn’t that I doubt God’s power. Instead, I doubt God’s grace. I realize my unworthiness and conclude God wouldn’t want to answer the prayer of a sinner like me.

I’m partly correct in this. I am, after all, a sinner. But I’m also horribly amiss too. God doesn’t answer the prayers of His children based on their worthiness. It is not a meritocracy. God answers His children’s prayers for Jesus' sake. Or to say it another way, every answer to prayer is an expression of grace through Jesus Christ.

We are taught to pray in Jesus’ name. Most Christians end their prayers with those words. But those words aren’t meant to be a period on the end of our prayers, letting others know when we are finished. Those words are meant to be an acknowledgment that we are asking God to answer our prayers, not for our sake, but for the sake of Jesus, God’s Son.

So, I need to stand on my watchtower and look out in faith for the answer God will send. And my faith needs to be firmly grounded in the understanding that the answers from the throne will come, not because I earned them, but because Jesus did; not because I deserve an answer, but because Jesus does; not because I am worthy, but because Jesus is.

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