How Long: Habakkuk Chapter 1
Hi friends! Happy February! WOW, I cannot believe we have already made it one month into 2021. I am so excited for today as we start out a fun little mini-series on Habakkuk. Over the next three times, I am writing here on the blog, we will be breaking down a chapter of Habakkuk. I first started reading the book at the beginning of the year, and each day I was blown away by how powerful each verse was. The first two times we talk about will be split into two parts which include a question asked by Habakkuk, and the Lord’s answer.
Before we begin, please read Habakkuk chapter 1 verses 1-11!
For starters, the book of Habakkuk brings such a full circle approach to understanding the beauty of God’s promises, but also the sovereignty and goodness of God. Habakkuk is a prophetic mediator between the people and God, and Jesus is the mediator between God and his people. After reading the three chapters, you were probably able to see this comparison throughout the book. The first chapter right off the bat, starts with a phrase of lament with verse 1. “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” Wow, has anyone else asked that same thing from God?! This is why I love Habakkuk so much, because it is real, raw, and gives us a passage to understand it is ok to ask God questions, he welcomes that. This “how long” phrase is seen previously in Psalms 10:1 and 13:1-2, and again similar to Job.
In verses 1-4, prayer is an essential part of the beginning as Habakkuk goes to God in prayer and uses imagery to show what he is seeing across the land. He prayed because h knew God would answer and even if it didn’t come, God was still good. The emphasis on evil is so present as Habakkuk mentions injustice, violence, strife, and conflicts. Verses 1-4 bring up our first question of “why is there evil in the world?” The format of seeing the Lord’s answer right after Habakkuk’s questions encourages us to do the same. Even if the answer isn’t what we want or expected, God is still good, and still faithful. The evil in the world was bringing heaviness to Habakkuk’s heart. My favorite quote from my study is as follows…
“We will wrestle with evil in this world when we serve a good God.”
C’mon somebody! This is so good!
No matter what we are going through the world will try to tempt us to align ourselves with the world. The world will try to tell us what is right and wrong, what to fear and what to like, and even what we should look like or not. However, and here’s another eye-opening quote.
“In those moments we must not interpret God’s Word through the lens of our circumstances, but we must interpret our circumstances through the lens of God’s word.”
In verses 5-11 of chapter one, God answers Habakkuk in a way where he begins to shift his perspective off of the here and now and look towards eternity. The Lord’s answer starts with “For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” Every promise will be revealed in time. I think of the time we are living in right now. We are almost at the one year mark since we have started this whole COVID journey. To be honest, to say I am ready to hug people, go to concerts, and even just walking into a room without thinking of getting sick is an understatement. I long for the day to do all of those things. I long for the day that people stop fighting about masks and for the church to stop fighting over whether to allow someone into a church if they are wearing a mask or not. Have I cried about these things, absolutely.
But reading verse 5 I feel so hopeful for what God has planned during this time. Just like Habakkuk, I am worried about the immediate, the here and now. Should we be aware of the present, yes, but should it consume our thoughts, probably not. God’s desire is for us to have an eternal perspective. As he promised in verse 5 he will do something in our days beyond our understanding.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your way and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9
God knows what is best for us and begins to work on his promise before we even ask anything of God. Before Habakkuk even called on God, he was working even prior to the time of Habakkuk.
Even if you don’t feel God working, or wake up one day with a lot of questions, bring them to God. Hold a character like Habakkuk and go to God in prayer. The answer may not always come in time, but the Lord will answer in one way or another. One thing to take away from our first portion of Habakkuk is that God's promises are always fulfilled in his time, not our time.
