Sometimes we get answers to our questions that we don’t want, but we learn to live with them. Getting answers we don’t want is part of life, part of being an adult, part of maturing, and is part of being a believer in Jesus Christ.
Sometimes we share our requests with God and we are told answers that we don’t want or didn’t expect. But we still accept them and move on in life with the answers that God has given us. Our friend Habakkuk is learning that too.
Thus far in the book of Habakkuk we’ve learned about Habakkuk’s problems in chapter one. In chapter one we read Habakkuk’s first question about God’s inactivity. Habakkuk essentially asks in Habakkuk 1:2–4 “How long will evil continue and when will you stop it?” Next we read God’s first answer to Habakkuk in Habakkuk 1:5–11. God essentially responds, “I’m going to stop it, I know what’s going on, and you’ll be surprised how.” Therefore Habakkuk asks a second question in 1:12—2:1. He questions God’s inconsistency and basically asks, “Why use greater sinners against less sinners?” In chapter two we learned about Habakkuk’s patience. God provided his second answer to Habakkuk in 2:2–20 in which God basically says, “I have a plan for the future, a message for the faithful, and punishment planned for the Babylonians.” Now we move on to chapter three which reveals Habakkuk’s praise about God.
“A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth. Lord, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:1–2, NASB).[1]
As we read the book of Habakkuk, we watch Habakkuk go from a wonderer, to a watcher, and now to a worshipper. Habakkuk started in gloom, now he ends in glory. Habakkuk went from why to worship. Habakkuk’s faith has been tested (chapter 1), taught (chapter 2), and is triumphant (chapter 3).
Don’t miss this: Habakkuk worships God even though God doesn’t answer his prayers in the way he hoped God would. James Montgomery Boice calls chapter three of Habakkuk one of the great prayers of all the Bible.[2] Chapter three of Habakkuk is the pinnacle of praise. As Warren Wiersbe has written, “His circumstances hadn’t changed, but he had changed, and now he was walking by faith instead of sight. He was living by promises, not explanations.”[3] Chapter three of Habakkuk is the mountaintop destination of Habakkuk’s journey that began in a low valley of distress in chapter one.
If we were to summarize Habakkuk 3:1–2 into one sentence it would be this: Hearing about God’s plans leads Habakkuk to fear God, to encourage God’s plans, and to request mercy from God. In these two verses we learn that revelation from God leads to trust in God.
When we have questions of God may we learn to trust him even when we don’t like the answers he provides. May the revelation God gives lead to our trust in God.
[1] Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.
[2] James Montgomery Boice, The Minor Prophets, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1986),417.
[3] Warren Wiersbe, Be Amazed: Restoring an Attitude of Wonder and Worship (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2010), 157.