Have you ever wondered what God is up to in your life or in the circumstances around you? Have you ever questioned why wrong seems to win? Over six hundred years before Jesus’s life, death and resurrection, the prophet Habakkuk lamented over whether God would right the wrongs he was seeing in the world. In fact, the prophet begins his dialogue with God by complaining, “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save” (Hab 1:2)? Have you had similar questions for God? God’s immediate answer for Habakkuk is to turn his attention toward the nations to see and be astounded, “For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told” (Hab 1:5).
God assures Habakkuk that He will not overlook sin and will eventually right all wrongs. Until that day, the “righteous shall live by [his] faith (Hab 2:4),” trusting in a good God even when we can’t immediately see the good He is doing. Habakkuk did not fully grasp how God could use a sinful nation to bring punishment on His own people for their rebellion against Him, and at the same time punish that nation which does so.
Chapter 3 of Habakkuk is a closing prayer of the prophet. While he trembles in fear waiting for the invasion of the nation of Babylon (Hab 3:16), in the worst of circumstances Habakkuk rejoices in the God of his salvation (Hab 3:18). He then says with determined conviction,
“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation” (Hab 3:17-18).
Even though everything in his life and the lives of those he knows and loves be stripped from him, he will rejoice in the God who will save him. “I will rejoice” is the strongest way the prophet can say he will rejoice. In other words, in faith he will trust God no matter the circumstances. God will deliver and the prophet will trust Him even when he does not fully understand what God is doing.
Fast forward over six hundred years from Habakkuk and God most decisively rights all wrongs through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. The most tragic event in human history is also the most glorious—the death and resurrection of Jesus. In Jesus’s unjust crucifixion, the justice of God is satisfied. God rights the wrongs in our world through Jesus’s death and resurrection. Yet, we live today in an already-not yet tension. Jesus has made all things right and will one day make all things right. Until that final day, “the righteous shall live by faith” and “take joy in the God of my salvation.” So, no matter the circumstances in life you are facing, whether there are figs in the pantry or fruit in the frig, we can take joy in the God of our salvation!
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