The question “why?” is most perplexing. Parents ask their children this question typically receiving the response “I don’t know.” When children ask their parents “why,” the typical response is “because I said so.” Neither of those answers is satisfying. There is seldom a good and satisfying answer to that question. Yet, Christians often ask God “why” when things happen that they don’t understand or like. The Bible gives many examples: Job, Jeremiah, various psalmists (e.g., Pss. 37 ; 49 ; 73 , etc.). Seldom does God answer the question. Over and again, God turns the attention away from the circumstance that generated the question to Himself, who is the ultimate satisfying answer. The tension between what we know about God (our creed) and what we are seeing that bothers us (our experience) can be real, but the resolution is always to look away from the circumstance to the Lord. Faith links our creed and our experience.
Habakkuk’s prayers, though generated by his misunderstanding of and confusion about what God was doing, are most instructive. The Bible records inspired prayers as patterns for us to follow. If anything is on the surface in Habakkuk’s praying, it is his honesty and transparency before God. He boldly bares his heart, expressing his bewilderment concerning God’s justice. He prays what he thinks. Too often our prayers become routine and rigid with standard platitudes as we try to mask before God our true feelings. Similarly, Jeremiah was so transparent in his praying that he accused God of deception (Jer. 20:7 ). We would never be so bold to mouth those words. But how often have we had these same feelings when things were not as we thought they should be. We must be reverent, but God knows our hearts and thoughts. Let us learn in our praying to appeal to Him reverently, yet with boldness, knowing that He is a God who loves to hear our prayers.
Habakkuk 2
God’s answer to Habakkuk is instructive (vv. 1–4 ). Not only does the answer reveal God’s pleasure with Habakkuk’s prayer, notwithstanding his confessions expressing his confusion about God’s actions (no rebuke to the prophet), it reveals the way believers are to live through the times of confusion. That the just are to live by faith encompasses all of life and every experience of life. We are to walk by faith and not by sight. Faith gives the assurance that God is in heaven (v. 20 ), His glory is in the earth (v. 14 ), and therefore, all is well regardless of what we see or sense. We may not always understand the reason, but we should live in the confidence that God is sovereignly accomplishing His purpose in all things.
Babylon was not exempt from accountability before God because she was God’s servant to accomplish His work of chastisement on Judah. God was sovereign in how He used the pagan nation, and the pagan nation was responsible for their own behavior and liable to just punishment. The only conflict between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility is in the mind of man. God is just in all His ways, and it is best that all the earth be in silent subjection before Him (2:20).
Habakkuk 3
Habakkuk’s prayer provides another important pattern with key lessons. On the surface is the link between prayer and God’s Word. Both are means of grace and work together. It is the Word that fuels the praying. Once Habakkuk learned God’s will, he prayed for that will to be done. Nothing was more crucial than the will of God even though it would involve painful discipline. But if the hard things were a means for the manifestation of God’s glory, then that would be for the best. It is noteworthy as well that the majority of the prayer is praise not petition. Praising God for who He is and what He has done fuels the faith to ask God for great things.
Reading the praise section of Habakkuk’s prayer illustrates the importance of knowing redemptive history. Many of the statements make no sense apart from what God has preserved in the historical records in Scripture. This ought to be an incentive to know our Bibles so when one part of Scripture alludes to another part we can understand the message. This section also illustrates that what Paul said concerning Israel’s history being an example and admonition for us (1 Cor. 10:11 ) applies to those living in the New Testament times as well. Can you think of more reasons why there is more to biblical history than just names, dates, and events?
The closing verses (3:17–19 ) teach that real contentment is found only in the Lord. This is another facet of living by faith. Too often, we allow circumstances to control our emotions and dictate our feelings. Circumstances change. It is fine to be happy or sad as circumstances dictate (Eccl. 3 ). But if we find our ultimate contentment and satisfaction in the eternal God who never changes, external stimuli are not the controlling factor. Habakkuk describes a situation in which nothing was good but he was rejoicing because his joy was in the Lord. Do you recall times in your life when you were content in the Lord, by faith, despite being in difficult circumstances?