Habakkuk: A Message of Faith
Habakkuk 1:1-3, 5-6, 13; 2:1, 4-6; 3:1-2, 17-19
“Why?” An age-old question, and possibly the most-asked question in the world. Among the first words a child learns, “Why?” is a question that parents hear from their toddlers, children, teenagers, and even their adult children.
Even as adults, we ask, “Why?” “Why do bad things happen to good people?” “Why do good things happen to bad people?” These are not new questions. In fact, these are questions the people of Judah asked. The prophet Habakkuk took their questions to God.
How often do we, as believers, complain to each other, and even to non-believers, about the injustice we see or imagine? We don’t understand why God allows these things to happen, and we voice our complaints to all who will listen. But we don’t take them to God. Just as He heard – and answered – Habakkuk’s questions, He will hear and respond to us. We must understand that while God can answer, He may choose not to do so. Even so, if we never have the answers to these questions, we can trust that God is faithful, true and just. We see how He has acted in the past – how He eventually brought judgment to the wicked and unjust – and trust that He will do so in the future.
In Habakkuk, we see not only the prophet’s questions, but God’s answers are also recorded. He indicates that He is well aware of all that has happened, and that He will act.
In His response, He indicates that judgment will come in an unexpected way, and possibly over a period of time. Sometimes, in the midst of difficult circumstances, we may feel like God has forgotten us. Our culture has caused us to expect everything to happen immediately, but God doesn’t work that way. We must be patient, and trust that He will act, and will do so in His perfect timing. We can ask the questions, but must live by faith.
Habakkuk responded with a prayer, showing trust in God and His reliance on God regardless of what happened. We, too, can trust God for our strength even in the middle of the worst circumstances. A former pastor put it this way, “Glance at your circumstances, gaze at God.” What is most important to believers is their relationship with God, not what is happening around them. A believer’s relationship should be such that before difficult circumstances arise, the decision to trust has already been made.
Judgment eventually comes to the wicked, and sometimes it affects good people, but believers can trust in God’s sovereignty, and that He will be their strength no matter what happens.
Register– Lessons in the BSL series for the winter quarter are being written by Laurie Register, executive director-treasurer of Woman’s Missionary Union, SCBC.