Be Astounded
What do you do when you are struggling with what you see in the world around us? There are places in scripture where God’s people deal with very similar questions and issues that we are facing today. One of those places is in the Old Testament book of Habakkuk.
Habakkuk’s Complaint
How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. Habakkuk 1:1-4
He looked out across the world of that day and saw violence, injustice, strife and contention. The law was not enforced; there was no legal protection for innocent people who were sentenced as guilty. The courts were manipulated by selfish lawyers and cruel officials. The whole nation was suffering because of the evils of the government. Yet God seemed to be doing nothing about it. Along with these internal problems was the threat of the Babylonian empire as it swept across the political landscape.
Habakkuk worried God didn’t listen to him when he cried out for help. Habakkuk said that God wouldn’t save him from all that was going on. He complained that God was apathetic and inactive even as injustice and violence was ruining Judah.
God’s response to Habakkuk.
Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. Habakkuk 1:5
The very first word we read from God is, “Look.” Look more closely Habakkuk. You may think that I am not at work. You may think that I have backed away and watched as all of this has come about. You may think that I don’t hear, but I am getting ready to do something that you will not believe!
The Hebrew word for “look” means, “to see, look at intensely, inspect, perceive, or consider.”
Instead of giving up on God, Habakkuk went to his watchtower to pray, meditate, and wait on the Lord. He knew that God heard his complaint and that He would send an answer soon.
God did answer. “I have a plan and a schedule,” God said. “It will all work out in due time, so don’t become impatient.”
Habakkuk prays
“I see that You are working in this world,” says the prophet, referring to 1:5. “Now continue that work—keep it alive and finish it.” Habakkuk is simply asking the Lord to keep on working. He knows that there will be wrath and judgment, but he prays that God will remember mercy too.
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
Habakkuk knew that God had worked in the past, and therefore he could trust Him to work in the present and future. How much more should this mean to us. We have the entire Bible to study, and Habakkuk did not have this. We have the record of life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, as well as the promise of His coming again. If any people ought to walk by faith and rejoice in the Lord, it is the Christian church today. Yet too often we doubt, complain, run ahead of God, and even criticize what God is doing.
Habakkuk praises
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. Habakkuk 3:17-19
These verses represent one of the greatest confessions of faith found in the Bible. “Though everything around me fail—the fields, the vineyards, the flocks, the herds—yet will I rejoice in the Lord.” Habakkuk knew that he had no strength of his own, but that God could give him the strength he would need to go through the trials that lay ahead.
Habakkuk shows us how to deal with life’s problems:
- Admit them honestly
- Talk to God about them
- Wait quietly before God in prayer and meditation on the Word
- When He speaks, listen and obey
