I have heard all about you, Lord.  I am filled with awe by your amazing works.
In this time of our deep need, help us again as you did in years gone by.
And in your anger, remember your mercy. (Habakkuk 3:2 NLT)

The Prophet Habakkuk was a person like you and me. He looked around him, and all he saw was lawlessness.  Many of his prayers were not being answered and was tempted to complain. Yet, by looking to God’s faithfulness in the past, he had hope and faith for the future.

Habakkuk protested about God’s lack of action (Ch.2:3). When God told him how he was going to act, the Prophet grumbled about the Lord using godless Babylon to accomplish his purposes (Ch. 2:12-13). God has his plans, and we have ours. We sometimes try to make God fit into our strategies instead of ours into his. Habakkuk eliminated his funk by focusing on the present through the lens of the past and seeing hope for the future. He mused on how God had delivered Israel from Egypt and concluded that he would do the same for Habakkuk and his people (Ch. 3:8).  The Prophet also accepted that a righteous God could use a wicked nation to accomplish His sovereign will.

When things are not going well, we are tempted to complain. When unrighteousness prevails, we are tempted to believe that God doesn’t care. We start to think and act like fate, and not God’s sovereignty rules the world.  God proceeds to reveal Babylon’s downfall, and Habakkuk believes God. Faith is always the victory. Habakkuk responds.

Though the crops fail and the barns are devoid of animals, “yet I will rejoice in the Lord!  I will be joyful in the God of my salvation” (vs. 17-18).

I worked for seventeen years as a missionary with Youth With A Mission.  My missionary work has taken me to Mexico, Canada, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Spain, and Ukraine.  I hold a Masters of Education in curriculum and instruction from Virginia Commonwealth University.  [email protected]