June 1

1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigonochi.

2 O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.

3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.

4 And his brightness was as the light; he had hoars coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.

5 Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.

6 He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove a smuiter the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.

7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.

8 Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?

9 Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.

10 The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.

11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.

12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.

13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst: the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.

14 Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages; they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.

15 Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.

16 When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.

17 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:

18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

19 The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

The prayer of the prophet, in the strictest sense of the word, is contained in verse 2. The rest is, in its form, praise and thanksgiving, chiefly for God's past mercies. But thanksgiving is an essential part of prayer, and Hannah is said to have prayed, whereas the hymn which followed is throughout one thanksgiving.

In verses 17-19 the prophet repeats his confidence in God, premising his knowledge that all human hopes should fail.

"The time to test religion is in the emergencies of life. When every thing is prosperous, when your health is good, when your spirits are fine, when your circumstances are as you would have them, that you are joyful in religion is a thing to be thankful for; but, after all, it is not a test of religion in you. If it were presented as evidence of your piety, men would say, 'Why should he not rejoice in the Lord? He has everything he wants. Take away his property and his family, and then see if he will be such a happy Christian.' But if, when a man is unprosperous, he has a religion that will carry him through; if, when a man is in great affliction, he has a religion that will hold him up; if, when a man is under vehement temptation, he has a religion that is like a coat of mail; if, when a man has lost all that the world clings to, he still has that which is more to him than houses, or lands, or friends, or honor; if, finally, when heart and flesh fail, God is the strength of his salvation, his joy and his triumph, then he has a religion that is worth having. And nobody can well afford to be without the experience of intimate faith and love by which the soul is sustained in temptation, in adversity, and in death itself."—H. W. Becher.

Closet Promise. —Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.—Isa. xli. 14.

"O Lord, how happy should we be If we could cast our care on Thee, If we from self could rest, And feel at heart that One above, In perfect wisdom, perfect love, Is working for the best:

"Could we but kneel and cast our load, Even while we pray, upon our God, Then rise with lightened cheer, Sure that the Father, who is nigh To still the famished raven's cry, Will hear in that we fear."