“O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear” (1:2)? It’s not hard to relate to Habakkuk’s lament, is it? Even when we try to do the right thing, our world continues to be filled with injustice, with destruction and violence. And so we long for God to save us and to keep His promises to make all things right.

But Habakkuk teaches us the sobering lesson that God’s solutions are seldom easy. When Habakkuk complained about the godlessness in the Hebrew culture (1:2-4), God said He would solve that problem by sending the Babylonians to conquer Judah (1:5-11)! Looking back through history, that long period of exile in Babylon did in fact break God’s people of their temptation to worship foreign gods. But that didn’t make it any easier for righteous people like Habakkuk who had to share in the suffering brought on by other people’s sins.

But what did God promise Habakkuk in chapter 2? Yes, the Babylonian armies were certainly coming. Yes, all those who were puffed up with pride, all those who were looking to their wealth or their reputation would find those things useless when their country was invaded. And when they were besieged, none of those foreign gods they had been worshipping would be able to keep them from being conquered.

So, what about people like Habakkuk? God told him that, no matter what happened, the righteous would go on living by their faith (2:4). They would simply have to trust God to get them out of whatever situation their own sin and the sin of others had gotten them into. And Habakkuk set a tremendous example of such faith in the last few verses of chapter 3, insisting that he would rejoice in the Lord, even if everything else were taken away from him (3:17-19).

Will we place such trust in God today? When we find ourselves caught up in the consequences of our own sins or the sins of others, will we trust God to bring good even out of the greatest evil? After all, that’s what God did on the cross of Christ, isn’t it? The only perfect Person Who ever lived suffered the greatest injustice ever done so that all those who trust in Him might be saved.

So, yes, things may be bad for you through no fault of your own, and they may get worse. But no matter what happens, the Lord alone is our strength. And He can see you through.

Habakkuk 3:17-19 (ESV)

17 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,
18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.