Habakkuk How often have you heard: “God doesn’t answer prayer” or “I tried faith, but it didn’t work.” Beloved know this; those who say this won’t believe even if and when the evidence is presented to them. They are obstinately content to live and walk in darkness. As one of Jeremiah’s contemporaries, Habakkuk teaches us how to persevere. He sifted through the pretense of his own belief and gleaned something that shook him to the core. Even as a believer, he too, was saying: “I can’t believe this is happening!” 

Habakkuk asked, “Why are you allowing this God?” He was brutally honest with God—he even accused God of not working! Yet Habakkuk didn’t walk away but persevered in his dialog with God. The refreshing thing to note is this: God loves us to be honest about how we feel. What other God would allow us to vent our feelings and our questions? And so unlike God’s silence with Job, God answered, “stand still and see me work.” Through his dialog with God, Habakkuk learned three principles:

Only the just will live by faith.

Someday God’s glory will fill the earth.

The Lord is still in his holy temple [Ps 73] and at work.

As Habakkuk’s world was swirling with ungodliness, he stood firm EVEN when he did not understand! Habakkuk determined to “remain stationed on the wall and keep watching so he could see what God says.”

Are you standing on the wall watching for God’s answer or wandering in the darkness?