What do we do when everything is falling apart around us? That’s the question that Habakkuk was left to wrestle with at the end of his collection of prophecy. His circumstances weren’t great, and they were on the cusp of getting much worse. What are we supposed to do then, especially when it’s not going to be within our power to fix them? Here at the end of our journey, we finally get an answer to that question. Let’s see where Habakkuk lands in his journey with God, and talk about how we can get to the same place in our own lives.

A Gift of Trust

Do you remember the old Magic Eye books? Do you remember those images? I’ll put one up on the screen as a reminder. Believe it or not, there’s a Walleye fish and a hook in all of that gobblygook. I made the mistake of looking at one on my Facebook feed the other day (pro tip: don’t do that in public because you look really funny crossing your eyes and holding your phone up right in front of your face), and suddenly there was a new one every time I opened the app. As you can see from the Magic Eye image up here, when you look at it for the first time, there’s clearly nothing there. But once you learn how to see them and figure out what the image is, you just about can’t not see them. 

We often find ourselves in places in life that seem to be one way. The things around us seem to be one way. The state of the world seems to be one way. The people in our life seem to be one way. And it’s not hard to convince ourselves that’s just the way things are. But when we learn how to see what really is, we come to find that we really couldn’t see at all before. This morning, as we finish our journey through Habakkuk’s little collection of prophecy, we are going to talk again about seeing things in light of how they really are and in spite of how they seem. 

This has been quite a journey so far, yes? Habakkuk is a wonderful little book, but that’s not the same thing as saying it’s an easy one. And it’s not hard because it is particularly difficult to understand. It’s hard precisely because we can understand what Habakkuk was saying. Habakkuk asked God hard questions, got hard answers, asked more hard questions, and then wrestled with God’s response. Along the way, we have been reminded of some truths that are as important to understand as they are challenging to accept. We can ask God our hardest questions, but we may not like His answers. If we want to experience the full goodness of God, we have to be willing to wait for it. And, the bigger our view of God, the more clearly we can see things as they really are. 

This morning, at long last, we are finally getting to the grand payoff of Habakkuk’s prophetic journey that I promised you would be coming when we started. If you have a copy of the Scriptures with you, find your way back to Habakkuk with me one last time for now, and let’s see how all of this finally comes together. It’s going to be good, but we’ve got to go through one more hard passage before we can get there. 

You’ll remember that last week we talked about Habakkuk’s prayer that was a psalm in the first three-quarters of chapter 3. It was there we found Habakkuk coming into this understanding of just how big God really is and what that means for His ability to handle the challenges we set before Him. It is with this bigger view of God in mind that Habakkuk says in 3:18 that “I will celebrate in the Lord; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.” 

So, after all of the turmoil and ups and downs of wrestling with God over what His plans are with regard to both Israel and Babylon, Habakkuk finally lands on praise. He finally gets to the place where he is rejoicing in the Lord. Our story has a happy ending after all. Clearly then, the moral of this story is that when you learn to have a big enough understanding of who God is, all your problems will go away and you can just praise Him and not worry about anything. Amen and the end. 

That doesn’t feel right, does it? Habakkuk wrestled too hard with God for that to possibly be how things end. Besides, we know from our own experiences with situations like this that having a big view of God does not make our problems go away. Perhaps it makes them seem a little smaller which is nice, but if someone close to us has died or experienced a loss, the person is still gone regardless of how big our view of God is. If we or someone we love are facing a deep, dark depression or a devastating physical illness—or both—having a big view of God doesn’t make the disease or the depression magically disappear. If we can’t pay our bills because of a major financial setback, while God can provide miraculously for us when we trust in Him, sometimes we still walk a path of suffering and struggling to get there. Plus, when you read through the rest of the Scriptures, there is a rather noticeable deficit of quick and easy solutions to hard problems. So again, that can’t be the end. 

Well, you’re right. It’s not. And the tipoff that it’s not is found in a little word that I actually skipped when reading v. 18 to you a second ago. Did you notice that? Bonus points if you were paying close attention to the difference between what was on screen and what came out of my mouth. It was the conjunction “yet.” It’s a little word that means what comes next is being presented in opposition to what comes before. Better yet, it’s being presented as happening in spite of what came before. This happened, and then there was a conscious choice to do this other thing anyway. Okay, so then, what came before the prophet’s declared intention to celebrate in the Lord and to rejoice in the God of his salvation? 

Let’s go back to v. 16. Listen closely here because this is pretty important. “I heard, and I trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Rottenness entered my bones; I trembled where I stood.” Pause there for just a second. What is this? This is Habakkuk’s reacting to the vision of God he was given. He had experienced the power and majesty of God, and he was never going to be the same again. 

But he wasn’t just terrified by the theophany God had given him. He was also resolved. Look at the rest of the verse: “Now I must quietly wait for the day of distress to come against the people invading us.” There are two things here I want you to see. Don’t miss either of them. Number one: God is going to bring judgment against Babylon. That evil nation was not going to be given license to conquer and destroy without consequence. Habakkuk was convinced that there would be a “day of distress” coming to Babylon. He was also clear, though, that he was going to have to wait for it. It probably wasn’t going to come when he wanted it to come.

More specifically—and this leads us to the second thing here I want you to see—it was not going to come before God used them as an instrument of judgment against Israel. Did you catch that at the end? Habakkuk is going to wait for the day of distress to come “against the people invading us.” The invasion is still going to happen. Jerusalem will be conquered. Their sins will still be punished. God is indeed just even at the expense of the people who bear His name. To put that another way: Things are still going to get worse before they get better. 

Okay, but how does this help us at all? How did it help Habakkuk? Because, and as we saw last week, now he has learned to see. He has learned to see God through the fog of his circumstances. That’s a handy little skill to have, seeing God through the fog of circumstances. This is because sometimes our circumstances can feel pretty foggy. In fact, Habakkuk goes on to list some of the foggy circumstances people in his day might have experienced. He lists some foggy circumstances they were going to be experiencing when Babylon came to town. 

Look at this with me in v. 17: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the flocks disappear from the pen and there are no herds in the stalls…” Now, that sounds a bit like an ancient member of an agrarian society worrying about agrarian problems. That’s because it is. So, let’s see if we can’t put that in terms a bit more recognizable to us. Though the grocery store shelves are empty and Amazon quits delivering. Though our 401K tanks and the stock market crashes. Though our savings runs out and our credit cards get canceled. Though the doctor has bad news and we don’t have time to be sick. Though our family members are struggling and they won’t listen to a word we say. Though our children are rebelling and they’ve stopped responding to our texts. Though everything around us is falling to pieces and we can’t figure out how to put it back together. Are you with me? Have you been there? Have you been in any of these different places or another one like them? 

Habakkuk has learned to see the Lord for who He really is. As a result of this, he has developed the ability to wait on God’s plans and timing. Living in a place of waiting isn’t easy. Sometimes things happen along the way of our waiting that seem poised to throw us completely off the track of where we thought God was leading us. It’s hard. It’s infuriating. It’s sometimes terrifying. But because Habakkuk has learned to see God for who He really is, even though his circumstances might have gone every kind of sideways you can imagine and a few you can’t…come back to v. 18 with me. 

Yet I will celebrate in the Lord. 

In spite of all of that, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. Why does Habakkuk call him “the God of my salvation”? Because he knows that He’s going to save him. How? Because he’s seen Him. He knows who He is. Okay, but will it be now? Probably not. But it doesn’t have to be. He’s going to trust in Him anyway. In fact, check this out. The little Hebrew word translated “in” there can also be translated as “because.” He’s not just going to celebrate in the Lord, He’s going to celebrate because of the Lord. Because of what He’s done? Perhaps, but that’s not what we can see in the text here. Think again about Habakkuk’s psalm. He’s learned to see God for who He really is. As a result, he’s going to celebrate because of who the Lord is. Because God is who He is, we can celebrate and rejoice despite what our circumstances might declare to be real. We know that what our eyes see isn’t always what really is. The God who is bigger than all the world is the one who determines the boundaries of reality. And because He does, and because He is for us, we can trust in Him. We can trust in Him despite what our circumstances seem to tell us. We can trust in God despite what our circumstances seem to tell us. 

There’s one more thing here. The chapter’s not quite finished (and I’m not talking about the directions for the choir director at the end). And this last thing is really important. We can trust in God despite what our circumstances seem to tell us, but that isn’t something we do on our own. It’s not like we just dig down deep to some well of trust we didn’t even know we had until we started digging, and from that place of newfound strength cling with bold tenacity to His identity. Now, if this were a Hollywood movie that’s how it would be. The deceit of the world is always that we can save ourselves (assuming we even need saving in the first place). God may give us a little boost, but we do all the real work. Such a deluded view of the world finds no traction in the Scriptures, though, including here. 

Look at v. 19. How does Habakkuk manage to reach and stay in this place of trust? “The Lord my Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights!” We don’t do this on our own. At all. Trusting in God like this is something we manage only with His help. He is both the one we trust in and the strength by which we give that gift of trust. It’s all Him from start to finish. Now, yes, we have to actually receive His help and give the trust, but He gives us the strength to do it. Our strength isn’t enough on its own. What’s more, you know this. You’ve tried your best and had your strength fail. You’ve given into despair even if only for a moment. You’ve compromised because you saw a way to hedge your bets just in case God didn’t show up, and you took it. You’ve taken your eyes off of Him and let your vision be filled by whatever the problem in front of you was. You’ve worried and been anxious. You aren’t enough on your own. But He is enough. He’s more than enough. And He’ll make you more than enough if you will receive His help and trust in Him. We can trust in God despite what our circumstances seem to tell us, and He’ll help us do that. 

So then, what are your circumstances telling you right now? Everybody’s in a different place on that question. For some of you, your circumstances seem like everything is coming up roses. You can’t imagine things going better than they are. Let me tell you: you should trust in God despite what your circumstances seem to be telling you. It’s tempting to think you really probably can make it without His help. Don’t give into the delusion. It won’t last. Sin has a way of reminding us that it is still in charge in this world just when we least expect. Start giving the gift of trust now when things are good so that it is already a well-ingrained habit when they aren’t. You can trust in God despite what your circumstances seem to tell you. 

For others of you, you’re really struggling to imagine how things could be worse. Maybe it’s not you who’s facing the worst of it, but rather someone you love. Either way, you are struggling to see the goodness and power and love of God around the mountain of the situation you are in. Open your eyes. See things as they really are. Do the work to develop a bigger view of God. Look through the lens of gratitude, the lens of wonder, the lens of humility. Don’t let vanity or pride or fear convince you to take your eyes off your Savior. Those circumstances won’t last forever. His kingdom will. He has promised to redeem and restore all things, and He always keeps His promises. Learn to wait with Habakkuk for the day of distress to come against whatever is threatening to invade your life. Choose instead to celebrate and rejoice because of who God is. He is bigger than whatever it is you are facing. We can trust in God despite what our circumstances seem to tell us.

Whatever it is you’ve got going on in your life, you can trust God with that. You can put it straight into the hands of Jesus, and instead of worrying about it, faithfully live out His character in the midst of it. That’s the substance of this trust we are talking about, by the way. We demonstrate it by living in obedience to His command to love one another after the pattern of His own love for us. Because He is so big and powerful, we can love freely, knowing that He has our back. We can trust in God despite what our circumstances seem to tell us. So go and trust. Trust with love. Love with boldness. Boldly live as one who belongs to Him. In Christ, you do. We can trust in God despite what our circumstances seem to tell us. Let us live fully within the bounds of reality together.