From Despair to Rejoicing
The news cycle is brutal. It feels at the moment like we just bounce from crisis to crisis. Whether it be COVID or violence or kidnappings, things in our world have been quite tumultuous. And though on Wednesday we were reminded that wonderful things happen; that sometimes, there are gloriously happy endings with the news that little Cleo Smith had been found and reunited with her family, things don’t always end that way.
Indeed had the situation ended up in another direction, inevitably questions would’ve been asked: why does God allow the evil to prosper? Especially when people cry out to Him for justice? Why didn’t God answer our prayers?
We especially wrestle with questions like this when they touch us personally: when we or someone we love are impacted directly.
It was in Habakkuk’s struggles about the complexities of life and these basic human questions that so many of us have pondered. That Habakkuk asked God, “Why do you force me to look at evil, / stare trouble in the face day after day?” (Habakkuk 1:3 MSG)
Set within a backdrop of real people facing real questions about real human suffering, Habakkuk provides us one of the most remarkable sections in all of Scripture, with an extended dialogue between Habakkuk and God (Habakkuk 1–2). The prophet initiated this conversation based on his distress about God’s “inaction” in the world. He wanted to see God do something more, particularly in the area of justice for evildoers. The book of Habakkuk pictures a frustrated prophet who channelled his frustration into prayers and eventually praise to God.
As the prophet Habakkuk stood in Jerusalem and pondered the state of his nation, Judah, he must have been dumbfounded. So much evil thrived, completely in the open, but God remained strangely silent. Where was He? How long would He allow this mess to continue? Not long, according to the Lord (Habakkuk 2:2–3). Another nation, the Babylonians, would come and execute justice on the Lord’s behalf. The wicked in Judah, those who thought they would get away with their evil deeds forever, were soon to be punished.
The book of Habakkuk offers us a picture of a prideful people being humbled, while the righteous live by faith in God (2:4). It reminds us that while God may seem silent and uninvolved in our world, He always has a plan to deal with evil and always works out justice . . . eventually. The example of the prophet Habakkuk encourages believers to wait on the Lord, expecting that He will indeed “work out all things for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
It’s often difficult to see the hand of God in a fallen world. We become quickly perplexed and doubtful of his faithfulness and care in light of natural disasters, poor stewardship of the earth’s resources, political corruption, rejection of the gospel, hostility toward followers of Christ, hunger, economic instability, and a thousand other frustrations and disappointments.
Yet even when all outward evidence points to the contrary, the church is called to trust in the Lord. This trust is based not on what we see but on who God is—the God who will “in wrath remember mercy” (Hab. 3:2). God’s character is supremely revealed in Jesus Christ, the final “anointed” one (3:13), in whom divine wrath and divine mercy meet. Because of Christ’s saving work on the cross, God calls all people from every tribe and nation to place their trust in him, for “the righteous shall live by his faith” (2:4).
So as we learn from the book of Habakkuk on Sunday, may we be able to affirm together,
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)
Like Habakkuk, we need to reach the place where we can quietly say, 'though ... yet I will rejoice in the Lord' (3:17-18). Habakkuk uncovers for us the process by which the journey of faith that takes us from questions to song can be achieved. Only then can we answer those questions which our world will invariably ask.