I hear, and my body trembles;
Habakkuk 3:16
my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;
my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
to come upon people who invade us.
Continuing with Habakkuk’s prayer of response to the Lord’s revelation of impending disaster, I want to focus on the last two lines of verse 16. Despite the impending invasion causing him to shake, he will quietly wait for the invaders to come.
Restful Waiting
When Habakkuk says he “will quietly wait”, the word he uses is נוּחַ (nuach), which means to settle down or rest.
Nuach forms the root of the name Noah (Hebrew Noach). The word appears two other times in his story. As the floodwaters subsided, “the ark came to rest (nuach) on the mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4). When he sent out a dove, it returned because “the dove found no place (manoach, resting place) to set her foot” (Genesis 8:9).
In David’s shepherd Psalm, he says God “leads me beside still (menuchah, restful) waters” (Psalm 23:2). God made the world in six days “and rested (nuach) on the seventh day” (Exodus 20:11). He gave David rest from his enemies (2 Samuel 7:1). When Solomon prayed at the dedication of the Temple, he said, “Blessed be the LORD who has given rest (menuchah) to his people Israel, according to all that he promised” (1 Kings 8:56). Ultimately, true rest is found in God (Psalm 116:7).
When people offer up sacrifices to the Lord, it is a “pleasing aroma” (reiach nichoach) to the Lord (Genesis 8:21, Exodus 29:18, Leviticus 1:9), a phrase occuring 43 times. What sort of smell was this? I picture it like a steaming cup of tea. After inhaling a nice whiff, I exhale and relax with a soothing “ahhh” sound.
Day of Distress
What is Habakkuk waiting for? A “day of trouble” (Hebrew yom tzarah) is coming. (This phrase appears thirteen times in the Hebrew Bible) Tzarah (usually translated trouble or distress) comes from the verb tzarar, which carries a range of meaning like to bind up or restrict. It is a feeling of being surrounded by problems, feeling confined.
This idea of confinement is expressed when the Psalmist says, “You have given me relief when I was in distress (tzar)” (Psalm 4:1). The word “relief” literally means “to make wide”. In other words, God widened his life when he felt confined.
As Jacob reflected on fleeing from his brother Esau, he said God answered him “in the day of my distress” at Bethel (Genesis 35:3). When he was about to meet Esau again after being gone for decades, he “was greatly afraid and distressed” (Genesis 32:7).
When the Israelites were defeated by their enemies, “they were in terrible distress (tzarar)” (Judges 2:15). From the belly of the fish, Jonah called out to God “out of my distress” (Jonah 2:2). While God can bring about tzarah when his people are disobedient, he also saves those in distress (Psalm 34:6, 50:15).
To Ponder…
What does it mean to rest in God? How does one calmly wait for a distressful time to come? Has God ever met you in a time of troubles?
I imagine Habakkuk like a man waiting for a storm to come. Preparations have been frantically made. Now, he’s sitting in a chair, looking out at the horizon at the dark clouds and occasional flashes of lightning. He wonders what will happen when the storm hits. Lifting a soothing mug of hot tea, he slowly sips it, relaxing his anxious nerves. He settles in his chair and waits.