Trusting God in the Darkness

Many of us are currently walking through life confused, weary, tired, frustrated, lost, and perhaps a little bit afraid. The prophet Habakkuk could relate. He was a little confused too, and he had some questions for God that we can understand. He asks: “How long, oh LORD, will I call for help?” (Habakkuk 1:2). He felt that God was taking too long to come through for him. Have you ever felt like that? You believe God, but He sure is moving slow in your life! Not only that, but God's movements were confusing to Habakkuk. In fact, God responds to his question: “Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days--you would not believe if you were told” (v. 5). Habakkuk could not understand what God was doing. In this particular prophesy God gave Habakkuk, God was going to raise up an evil people called the Babylonians who would discipline His people, the Israelites. Habakkuk does not see how God can do this: “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do you look with favor on those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?” (v. 13). In other words, Habakkuk is saying it's not fair to let wicked people triumph over God's people.

We Question
Habakkuk thinks God is slow to act, hard to understand, and unfair in His actions. We're not the only ones who think these thoughts about God sometimes! It's hard to admit these thoughts because it makes us sound so unspiritual. But in our heads, these thoughts pop up. We believe God and the things He says, but there are times that real questions come into our minds. The good news is we aren't alone. Scripture tells us that Habakkuk faced many of the questions and fears that we are familiar with.

The book of Habakkuk starts out in a pit, but we'll see that it ends up on a peak. Physically, Habakkuk is a wreck: “I heard and my inward parts trembled, at the sound my lips quivered, decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble” (3:16). He is falling apart, unraveling.

Do you feel like you are unraveling? Maybe you are facing chaos at home, at work, everywhere in your life. Maybe you're ready for a change, ready to put the past behind you, but a little scared of what the future holds. That was Habakkuk's problem. And he had to “wait quietly for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us” (3:16). The future looked dim and he wasn't excited about it! But look carefully at the next three verses and what they express about Habakkuk's faith: “Though the fig tree should not blossom and though there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord GOD is my strength. He has made my feet like hinds' feet, and makes me to walk on my high places” (3:17-19).