Habakkuk was a man of many questions and in this short but powerful book, the prophet boldly pours out His heart to the Lord, and the Lord answers Him with HOPE.

The world in Habakkuk’s time was much like it is today (perhaps even worse, friends!). There was war, famine, destruction, evil, idolatry, pride, and much sin. What Habakkuk saw was a dying world, and it broke his heart. I know many of the circumstances and changes in our world today break the heart of the faithful Believer.

“How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere,” I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery. Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to fight.”

Habakkuk 1:2-3

Habakkuk didn’t know why a good God would allow such bad things to happen, but through these words, God proves He is still in control of the world despite the apparent triumph of evil.

“For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.”

Habakkuk 1:5

Five things to learn from Habakkuk 1:

1. The world has always consisted of evil since Eve ate the apple. DON’T LET IT DISTRACT US from knowing and believing God’s promises and truths.

2. POUR OUT OUR HEART TO THE LORD. Daily take our fears, worries, questions and complaints to our Heavenly Father who listens and loves us no matter what. Are we more likely to pour out our hearts and complaints to others first? Or even hold them all in to try to be a more perfect Christian, not ever questioning the Lord? As God’s children, He longs to hear from us, and we can trust that He hears us always. Even that which we don’t say, he knows what is in our hearts. Don’t be afraid to give it all to him, He will be faithful to answer us!

3. Daily GET INTO HIS WORD and quiet with Him in PRAYER to hear His response to us. Replace the fears, lies and worries with the truth of His Word.

4. TRUST HIM, TRUST HIM, TRUST HIM. In all things know He is good, with us and in control. While I cannot go into all the details of Habakkuk’s time, I find it interesting that the Lord used the evil Babylonians to help Judah return to Him. We can learn from this to never underestimate the Lord’s ways! They are mysterious and higher than our ways. We can’t possibly understand or comprehend them but because of His character and who we know Him to be, we can trust Him.

5. LOOK TO HIM and His Word more than we look to the world (social media, news, TV, friends, food, drink, or anything else that causes fear or things we use to escape our problems or ease our fears).

Looking to Him,

Sarah