Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone
Today I’m sharing a weekend audio teaching as we continue our study of Habakkuk in the First 5 app. You can listen to the teaching here, and I hope you’ll check it out! When we truly understand the seriousness of God’s judgment, the gift of His mercy becomes even more precious.
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Today I have the privilege of sharing over at First 5 about God’s justice as we walk through the book fo Habakkuk together. Here’s a preview . . .
Today’s Reading: Habakkuk 2:6-8
Habakkuk 2:6 (ESV) “Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, ‘Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own-for how long? -and loads himself with pledges! ‘”
I’ve been a parent for 17 years, which means I’ve come up with a few responses to the cry, “That’s not fair!” Sometimes I respond with a shrug and the parenting classic “Life isn’t fair.” Sometimes my child is truly hurting and needs a compassionate hug. Sometimes I remind them that they don’t want what’s fair – they’ve received so much that they don’t deserve in this life, including God’s mercy.
With today’s passage, we start our study of five woes that God gave Habakkuk in response to Habakkuk’s cry of “That’s not fair!” (Habakkuk 1:12-13; Habakkuk 2:6-20) God knew His people would have questions when they watched Jerusalem fall and were carried away in defeat by the Babylonians. Centuries earlier, God promised Abraham that his children would live in this land. (Genesis 15:18-21) God promised David that one of his descendants would reign forever on the throne in Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 7:8-16) Had God failed to keep His promises?
God knew the people might conclude that God had abandoned them, that He was powerless compared to Babylon or that He was unjust. These woes gave Habakkuk and the people of Judah hope that God was still righteous, just, all-powerful and faithful to His promises.
You can head over to First 5 to read the rest of today’s teaching, and I hope you’ll consider joining us in the First 5 app for the rest of the study of Habakkuk. There’s also a study guide that I had the opportunity to write for this study of Habakkuk. You can find it here on the Proverbs 31 Ministries website.
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I love the book of Habakkuk, so when the team at the First 5 app asked me to write a study guide for a First 5 study of Habakkuk, it was an immediate “yes!” Now the study guide is available for purchase as we start the study of Habakkuk in the First 5 app. If you’d like a copy, you can purchase one here at the First 5 website.
(Photo credit: Proverbs 31 Ministries)
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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, 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. 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 cancer comes back . . . if you never get married . . . if you suffer another miscarriage . . . if your prodigal child never returns home . . . if your relationship with your 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. He knows God can and will keep all His promises. He knows God is ruling and reigning over all things. 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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