Read: Habakkuk 1:1-11 NLT – This is the message that the prophet – Bible Gateway
“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 argue and fight.” Habakkuk 1:3 NLT
The prophet Habakkuk had a couple complaints for God he wanted to get off his chest. First, Habakkuk was in doubt God was hearing his prayers. If He was, God wasn’t responding. Secondly, Habakkuk doesn’t understand why he must witness all the evil around him while the culprits go unpunished. Sound familiar? Habakkuk saw nothing but misery through destruction, violence, people fighting, and no justice in the courts. Again, sound familiar. The old saying is true, ‘the more things change the more they stay the same.’
Habakkuk was writing over 2,500 years ago and his words are just as relevant today and could be posted on any social media website. If you ever thought about or have questioned God, you’re not alone. When we see the same things that the old prophet saw in his day it makes us want to cry out with him, why? And perhaps we feel God is not listening to us as Habakkuk felt. But we are both wrong in our assessment of God’s attention to our prayers. He does listen and answers in His timing and according to His will.
God told Habakkuk the guilty will not go unpunished. The guilty, in this case, was his own people, the people of Judah. “The LORD replied, ‘Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.’” (Hab.1:5 nlt) God was going to use the evil Babylonian Empire to bring justice to His own people. This of course caused Habakkuk to question God even more, but through it all he rested in God working His plan which included bringing judgment on the Babylonians.
We do not understand the fine workings of God. They are too high for us, as high as the heavens. But we can rest that God hears our prayers as we tell Him what we see asking for justice in our world. God will bring about justice according to His plan and use people and nations we would never consider, but then again, we are not God. Only He can bring about true justice. So, it’s OK to question God and tell Him what we see, just remember He has the perfect plan already worked out.
Word for the Soul 