Rejoice in the Lord: A Study in HabakkukShembull

What does it say? Habakkuk questioned why the holy God would use wicked people to punish His people. God told Habakkuk that the righteous person would live by faith. What does it mean? When there were no reasonably righteous nations on the earth, God chose the wicked Chaldeans (the Babylonians) to punish the disobedient Israelites. In the end, the Chaldeans would face God’s wrath as well. Habakkuk could not understand how God’s holy character could tolerate the evil of the Babylonians, even as his tool of judgment. He must have been thinking, “But, Lord, two wrongs don’t make a right! Now the Chaldeans will overwhelm us with evil.” It was up to Habakkuk and those who sought to be righteous to remain patient and live by faith in the Lord. How should I respond? You don’t have to look very hard around your community, country, or world to see bad things happening. It often seems as if there’s no hope for justice or goodness to prevail. You can do two things when you feel this way. First, be patient, knowing God is just and will punish those who deserve punishment. Their evil will not last forever. Second, determine to do what is right and just – no matter what anyone else does. The faith in which we, the righteous, are to live is faith in God to punish the bad and reward the good in His perfect time. How will you demonstrate faith today?