“...I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord is my strength…” Habakkuk 3:18, 19a
Habakkuk, the prophet, had seen so much wickedness and idolatry in Judah. His first question: how could God allow His rebellious people to get away with so much sin without being punished? Habakkuk had questions about God’s ways. God answered Habakkuk that He would soon be using the Babylonians to punish the nation of Judah.
Habakkuk’s second question: how could God allow a nation even more wicked and cruel than Judah to punish the people? God answered Habakkuk and assured the prophet that a day of judgment would also come for the Babylonians. The entire book, Habakkuk expressed his faith in the God who was in charge of all things and that God was just in all His ways. Habakkuk saw God’s mercy and love for the righteous and His purpose to destroy wicked Babylon would come in His time. This caused Habakkuk to sing a hymn of praise and promise concerning salvation in Zion, “I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation (Habakkuk 3:18).
What does this mean for us? Habakkuk 2:4 quoted, “The just shall live by his faith.” That means we are to trust God and He has His “appointed time… and it shall surely come…” (Habakkuk 2:3). Right now, God’s Word through Habakkuk is telling us to turn to God and to trust Him with all our hearts. We are to have a close fellowship with Him, and to obey His will. We are to live in this world by faith in God. We are to have a strong trust in God that His ways are right. We are to be loyal to Him as Savior and Lord, and ‘in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and he shall direct thy paths’ (Proverbs 3:6).
