Lord, I have heard of Your fame; I stand in awe of Your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy (Habakkuk 3:2).
Father in heaven, You are God most holy, majestic and mighty, a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). Who will not fear You, Lord, and bring glory to Your name? For You alone are holy (Revelation 15:4). You are the God who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth (Psalm 113:6).
Yet we dare to trample on Your glory, Your majesty, Your utter, terrifying holiness that splits rocks, and causes mountains to smoke. Forgive our irreverent familiarity. Forgive our ignorant profanity. Teach us the reverent fear of God.
Sovereign Lord, Your servant Abraham understood the connection between not fearing God, and violence, lawlessness, and chaos. He said of a nation where he lived for a short while, "There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me..." (Genesis 20:11).
Oh Father, we too, live in a time of darkness, and violence, and lawlessness, and chaos, with many around us who have no fear of God—many around us who deny God, many around us who profane God. We pray for eyes to be enlightened, hearts to be transformed.
We echo the prayer of Augustine of Hippo, "Look with pity, Lord, on these things and deliver us who call upon Thee now; deliver those too who call not on Thee yet, that they may call on Thee, and Thou mayest deliver them." (Confessions, Book 1).
Descend upon Your people O God. We have lamented the evils of this world, but we have not been willing to humble ourselves before You. Turn our hearts to true repentance, and touch our lives and this world with Your manifest power and presence.
We are in an age when we can say like the prophet Habakkuk, Lord, I have heard of Your fame; I stand in awe of Your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known... (Habakkuk 3:2).
Remember us, O Lord! Remember our troubled generations! Awake, awake, arm of the Lord, clothe yourself with strength! Awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old... (Isaiah 51:19)
The violence and evil around us pile up in Your sight, so you are right in Your verdict and justified when You judge (Psalm 51:4). We sow the wind and reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7). But Your mercy is everlasting, Lord, and Your truth endures to all generations (Psalm 100:5 - NKJV). Touch our world, touch these generations. In wrath, O Lord, remember mercy!
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