Monday, July 29, 2013

Questioning God: What We Can Learn From Habakkuk

The Minor Prophets are not as useless as we think. They contain the very mind of God. They are also very human. What I mean are the prophets, although people endowed with special revelation, they are still simply people. 

I could connect with Habakkuk more than the other minor prophets. He was a God-fearing man surrounded by people who should have been more God-fearing and he struggled with that knowledge. When he opens his little prophecy we read his heart felt prayer of asking God, "What is going on?  These people are full of sin and violence.  Do You even notice, God?"  

Gods answer, unfortunately, was not what Habakkuk wanted to hear. Habakkuk was given a rare insight. He was allowed to see specifically what God was about to do - and it was not pretty. So, like any good human, Habakkuk asks the second obvious question, "Are You sure that is a good idea, God?"  

So God reveals one of the most important aspects that His people must display - faith. God tells him, "The righteous shall live by faith."  Those words that the apostle Paul would later pen in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11, those words that would stir Martin Luther out of his works-based faith and shake the world with the reformation. 
 
God told Habakkuk and He is still telling people today, the righteous will walk by faith, even in the midst of pain and conflict. God's prophecy was certain and Habakkuk could only wait for the inevitable to come. Habakkuk does what only God's people do - he maintained his faith in Yahweh. The picture I inserted above captured the last two verses of this little prophecy. "The Lord God is my strength."  These powerful words, full of faith's object and full of hope and inspiration are for people trapped in a painful world. 

When we ask what is going on in this chaotic world, we only have one answer - faith in our God, and more specifically - faith in our Lord Jesus!  Faith says God is sovereign and He has all the authority and all the power to do as He see's best

So when your questions are not being answered read Habakkuk and see the faith that is necessary to maintain a proper perspective. It is reliance upon God to sustain while in a precarious situation.