That little book called Habakkuk ~ Part 3

Check out the introduction and part ~ 2.

Habakkuk is becoming very real too me.  As you know my desire is to be in my home full time with my babies.  However, financially that isn't possible right now.  I have a wonderful part time job that uses my degree.  I have been praying that God would bring my home full time very soon.  And just as Habakkuk does not receive the answer he was expecting, I received an answer that was from left field.  Due to budget cuts, my hours at work have been drastically reduced to only 5 per week.  My first thought was maybe this is a stepping stone into coming home.  However, after speaking with my husband I realized that we could not survivce financially with that very small income.  It now looks as though I will be hunting for a full time job unless God places me in another part time position. 

At the moment I'm on the verge of tears.  I've studied Habakkuk in depth for a few weeks now and prayed that God would teach me truth from Habakkuk's story.  Well, He did! 

I know this sounds awful but the story isn't finished.  As we will see today Habakkuk prays again to the Lord.  Get ready because the Lord really convicted me over this second prayer.

Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment;
you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.

Habakkuk 1:12

Habakkuk had just poured his heart out to God and received a very surprising response.  Instead of bringing peace to Judah God was going to send the Babylonians to invade and conquer Judah.  I wonder if Habakkuk's jaw dropped at God's answer.  How could God do the opposite of Habakkuk's pleas?  Surely God didn't fully grasp the situation.  So Habakkuk turns around and prays again.  He objects God's plan of punishing Judah further.  He points out God's absolute power and cries that God's plans are even worse than the current predicament.  He pleads for God to rethink His plan and then pronounces with great confidence that he will wait for God's response.

I will stand at my watch
and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

Habakkuk 2:1



God responds back with both hope and bad news.  The Babylonians are still going to invade and conquer Judah.  However, God acknowledges the evil of the Babylonians and gives a vision to Habakkuk of the Babylonians punishment.  The Babylonians are not being blessed in their evil acts, they are being used by God for a temporary time and then they too will face the consequences of their sin. 

What really stood out to me in God's second answer is His admonishment to the righteous.

See, the enemy is puffed up;
his desires are not upright—
but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness

Habakkuk 2:4

The Asbury Bible Commentary points out that no matter what one goes through one can still choose to remain faithful.  So even though things aren't looking good for Judah (or me) God is still the same God that He was during good times. 

I wonder if Habakkuk was expecting a certain answer because he thought that he was a Godly man and deserved God's favor.  This is where God convicted me.  I honestly thought that if I was a "good girl" that God would give me what I wanted.  When I received the news about my hours at work I was shocked.  I asked God why He would allow this when I wanted to be at home full time!  It breaks my heart to think about being away from my babies even more.  I can barely keep up with my housework while working part time outside of the home.  How am I going to do it while working full time? 

I do find comfort in that God does see the big picture.  He knew my days before I took a breath.  I hope that I can follow His admonishment and be faithful in my dismay. 

God was working on Habakkuk's heart and we will see the fruit of that labor in Habakkuk's final prayer.  Hopefully I will be fertile ground for the work God is doing on me.

Has God given you the opposite answer that you wanted?  Do you expect God to answer you the way you want to be answered?  I would love to hear what God has been teaching you!

This post is linked with: Thankful Homemaker