43 Habakkuk

Now Habakkuk - Habakkuk was wondering why God was allowing His chosen people to go through the current suffering at the hands of their enemies. He wrestled with the question of why innocent people suffer while evil people so often seem to prosper. God replied that His people must trust Him, for the wicked will be judged in the end. God answers and Habakkuk’s faith is restored. I guess this is where you learn you can question Gods motives and ask why.. with respect of course. Sometimes it is not always clear to us what is going on, especially if we are thrown into suffering for a period of time or if it seems like everyone else is prospering while we are just barely getting by. Habakkuk affirms that, God is the Almighty God, who has all things under control. We just need to be still and know He is at work. He is who He says He is and does keep His promises. He will punish the wicked. Even when we cannot see it, He is still there! We need to stay focused on this: Sometimes the way we have to go to get us there, is through suffering and sorrow, but if we rest in Him and trust Him, we come out where he wants us. It is all good I tell ya. You will see

What's the big idea? As the prophet Habakkuk stood in Jerusalem and pondered the state of his nation, Judah, he must have been dumbfounded. So much evil thrived, completely in the open, but God remained strangely silent. Where was He? How long would He allow this mess to continue? Not long, according to the Lord. Another nation, the Babylonians, would come and execute justice on the Lord’s behalf. The wicked in Judah, those who thought they would get away with their evil deeds forever, were soon to be punished. The book of Habakkuk offers us a picture of a prideful people being humbled, while the righteous live by faith in God. It reminds us that while God may seem silent and uninvolved in our world, He always has a plan to deal with evil and always works out justice . . . eventually. The example of the prophet Habakkuk encourages believers to wait on the Lord, expecting that He will indeed work out all things for our good

Habakkuk asked God the kind of question that so many of us have pondered, “Why do you force me to look at evil, stare trouble in the face day after day?”. We have all seen the evidence of evil in our lives. We’ve all been touched by it. And we bear scars at various stages of healing. Surrounded by evil as if we are trapped in a dark prison cell of our own making, we are often downtrodden by our poor choices and our fallen world. However, the book of Habakkuk reminds us that no place is too dark and no wall too thick for God’s grace to penetrate in a powerful and life-affirming way. He is there, always there, watching what is going on, and in time.. will save us all from this messed up world, and bring us into a better place. Honest, it will happen, you must believe.