Resting in Sovereignty
6/16/26 Bible Thought (Habakkuk 1)
Main Idea: God is a sovereign, mind-boggling God who acts as He pleases.
A Quick Backdrop:
The prophet Habakkuk came on the scene sometime near the end of Assyria’s dominance, yet before the full rise of Babylon. Presumably then, his writing took place during the latter portion of the seventh century BC.[1]
A Look at the Text:
Habakkuk’s writing begins with a very brief introduction and then a complaint leveraged by God’s prophet against God Himself. The Lord wasn’t answering the prophet’s pleas (Hab. 1:2). Even more, God seemed completely indifferent to the sins of His people, Judah (Hab. 1:3-4).
If He was a just Judge, why was He seemingly asleep at the wheel?
To this, God responded:
“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told” (Hab. 1:5).
Essentially, God told Habakkuk that He was going to blow his mind—the Babylonians were being sent as His instrument of justice (Hab. 1:6-11). They were a powerful and merciless people, and they would afflict Judah for their sin.
In response, the prophet was confounded (Hab. 1:12-17).
The Babylonians were even more wicked than Judah was! His understanding of God was being shattered as God was going to use people even more wicked than Judah in judgment against them (Hab. 1:13). God was certainly not acting according to Habakkuk’s preconceived ideas concerning Him, and Habakkuk didn’t like it one bit.
Bringing it Home:
Habakkuk’s short book should be of great encouragement to us as we live in a backwards world suffering the effects of sin. We probably can all relate to his complaint, yet we shouldn’t ever discount what God is doing. Truly, He is a mind-boggling God. He is a God that we simply cannot put in the proverbial box.
Habakkuk’s conversation with God should challenge us to remember that just because we can’t see what God is doing does not mean that He is not active. Even more, if we can see what He is doing and we don’t like it, this does not mean that He is not good.
God is ruling His creation as He sees fit. We must trust that He will do what is good in His eyes. His ways and thoughts are much higher than ours (Isa. 55:8-9). He is a God who blows the minds of prophets.
The Almighty is not some neat, tidy, easily understandable, and fully comprehensible companion. He is God. He is transcendent. He stands above His creation and rules it as He pleases. Can we not trust that He is doing it right?
Challenge:
Do I ever limit God’s ways to my ability to reason or understand?
[1] John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016).