We’ve been taking a journey this month with the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk. He’s pleaded with God to relieve his suffering, heard a troubling answer, reminded himself of God’s character, been encouraged to live by faith, and received comforting promises from his God. The book of Habakkuk concludes with a beautiful prayer of trust and hope that Habakkuk wrote to be sung by God’s people in worship. 

After remembering God’s faithfulness to His people throughout their history, Habakkuk ends his prayer with these words: 

“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. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

These verses sounds strange to our modern ears . . . no figs or olive oil? Problems with the flock? But this is describing a natural disaster of huge proportions for an ancient, agrarian society. For Habakkuk, if the trees don’t blossom and the flock is gone, there is no food. This is even worse than what we experienced in March when we couldn’t find toilet paper and canned goods on the shelves. Habakkuk is saying, “Even if the world falls apart and I lack basic necessities like food, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.” 

What’s your “even if”? If the pandemic keeps dragging on . . . if your candidate loses the election . . . if the cancer comes back . . . if you never get married . . . if the miscarriages continue . . . if your relationship with an estranged family member never improves . . . yet we will rejoice in the Lord, we will take joy in the God of our salvation. 

Habakkuk isn’t trusting that his circumstances are going to get better – he’s trusting who God is, no matter what. The Lord is his strength as he seeks to live by faith, remembering that the One who’s been faithful in the past will be faithful throughout Habakkuk’s uncertain future. 

No matter what you face this week, find your joy and your strength in the faithful Lord. 

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This week we’re continuing in the book of Habakkuk, where we see a conversation between God and a suffering prophet. Habakkuk cried out to the Lord for help, and God told him that He would bring the Chaldeans to oppress the people of Judah. (This was not good news!) God exhorts Habakkuk to wait with faith in God’s promises. 

As the conversation continues, God tells Habakkuk that He will eventually bring justice and punishment to the wicked Chaldeans. There will be suffering and hardship, but deliverance will come (Habakkuk 2:5-19). 

Then God speaks these words of comfort to Habakkuk: 

“But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” (Habakkuk 2:20)

When I first read these words, I couldn’t see how Habakkuk could find comfort here. This isn’t the first verse I turn to when I’m sending a “thinking of you” card to a friend. But as I dug deeper, I understood why this truth would lead to Habakkuk’s prayer of praise that we’ll look at next week. 

The Lord’s presence in His holy temple teaches us that He is ruling and reigning over all things. As He’s ruling from His throne, He also sees us. Psalm 11:4 says, “The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.” He sees the sin of others that affects us. He sees our hurt. He sees our tears. 

And since we live at this point in history, after the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Lord’s presence in His holy temple means even more. God the Son left the throne of heaven to dwell among us. Now His redeemed people have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us – now we are God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:16). 

God says in Habakkuk 2:20 that He is in His holy temple – and Scripture tells us that we are God’s temple. What does that mean? It means God is with us. 

The words of this verse brings comfort to those who are in Christ because we know the Lord reigns from His throne, He sees our pain, and He resides with us in our suffering. 

No matter what you face this week, the Lord is in His holy temple. 

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This month we’re looking at a conversation between a prophet and God in the book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk is in a bad situation that just keeps getting worse. (Sound familiar?!) Last week, we saw Habakkuk cry out to God in his suffering. God reminded Habakkuk that He was still at work, even as the situation deteriorated. 

Next, Habakkuk reminded himself of the truth of God’s character and waited with eager expectation to hear how God would respond (Habakkuk 1:12-2:1). Today we’ll look at the second response God gives to Habakkuk in their ongoing conversation. 

“And the LORD answered me: ‘Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. ‘Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.’” (Habakkuk 2:2-4)

God tells Habakkuk to wait patiently and live by his faith. When we live by faith, we believe that God’s promises are true. We believe that Jesus Christ has battled our worst enemies—sin, evil, and death—and He is victorious. 

When we live by faith, we believe that God can keep His promises to us. We have confidence that the God who put His power on display in the death and resurrection of Jesus has the power to deliver on His promises. 

When we live by faith, we believe that God will keep His promises to us. While we were His enemies, Christ laid down His life for us (Romans 5:8). He loves us, and we are His—He will keep His promises to His children. 

So as Habakkuk lived out God’s exhortation to “wait for it” in Habakkuk 2:3, he could take comfort knowing that God could and would deliver on His true promises. This is how the righteous live by faith: we believe that God’s promises are true while we wait for His purposes to unfold. 

No matter what you face this week, you can have faith that God can and will keep all His promises to you. 

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