In our study of Habakkuk we learned a number of lessons we can apply to our lives. One of the most obvious lessons is that God wants us to trust Him even when we don’t understand all He is doing.
All of us face this issue because we see only in part what we are going through at any given time. Habakkuk for sure didn’t know what God was up to when he complained to God in the opening chapter of his prophecy. He even confronted God with what appeared to him to be a compromise of His character. The reason he thought it was a compromise is because he was impatient with what appeared to him to be God’s indifference.
He was totally unaware that God had been working in the affaires of surrounding nations. What God was doing had already impacted Judah – remember, Josiah their king was killed in a battle with Necco, king of Egypt who was on his way to engage in a battle with Babylon.
God was doing a work of testing how deep the revival under Josiah impacted the lives of the people in Judah. While Josiah was on the scene things seemed to be going well. With his removal the bottom fell out of the revival. Within a few years conditions described in Habakkuk 1 were in full swing.
God had to judge their rebellion, but He is slow to anger. He wants to bless. He patiently waits for repentance, but if it doesn’t come there is a point at which He must act.
Habakkuk didn’t understand God’s timetable or plan, but through waiting and listening he learned to trust God.
