
Watching God flex His muscles and weave our stories is one of the great joys of following Christ. Although there are times we don’t see it. We get so clouded with the struggles that we forget to see the hand of God moving. We cry at the horrors in the world. We come face to face with things that Satan meant for evil, and forget that God will use it for good. We are not alone in this struggle. Habakkuk sounds like he feels just like we do. “God, where are you, why is this devastation everywhere?” Habakkuk is boldly and honestly questioning God, “How long will I cry for help and you not hear, how long will you see this treachery, violence, and destruction and do nothing?” The Lord answers him (and us) with “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your day that you would not believe if told.”
Sounds so uplifting and encouraging, doesn’t it? It is! But the Lord went on to tell Habakkuk that He is rising up the Chaldeans (imagine blood thirsty, angry Gladiators) to come and disperse Habakkuk’s nation. Obviously, not what Habakkuk wanted or was expecting. Habakkuk plead to God again, “Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One?” Habakkuk questions God, but never does it enter his mind to walk away from God. He is WRESTLING FAITHFULLY saying, “O Lord my God, my holy One”. This tells me it is OK to question, as long as I remember my place and God’s place. His place is on high. His ways are not my ways. His time table is not my time table. We are not to judge His ways. Because even though it sounds like a terrible thing that the Chaldeans were coming to disperse Habakkuk’s nation, God had a plan….a plan Habakkuk did not know.
Because Habakkuk’s nation was dispersed through the attack, the Church grew and spread because God’s people were dispersed throughout the region.
This struck me, when I get bogged down in despair, asking God, “Why?, I don’t understand”, I need to remember Habakkuk. What Habakkuk did not understand at the time, we have the benefit of sitting in 2019 seeing how the hand of God moved and how He weaved the story of advancing His Church to save many. In the midst of the story, Habakkuk just saw calamity. But we now see beauty in the spread of the Gospel. What a beautiful example God gives us in the faithful wrestling of Habakkuk, confidence that we can trust He is working it all for our good and His glory. May we all wrestle well and rest in the goodness of our Father’s plans.