Habakkuk is unusual among the prophets in that he openly questions the working of

God (1:3a, 1:13b).[19] In the first part of the first chapter, the Prophet sees the injustice
among his people and asks why God does not take action: "1:2 Yahweh, how long will I
cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you 'Violence!' and will you not save?" (World
English Bible).

Habakkuk had a complaint to bring against the Lord (Hab 1:1–4). The Lord heard
Habakkuk’s complaint and answered (1:5 –11). But Habakkuk couldn’t believe his ears
and reacted (Hab 1:12–17).
Habakkuk’s Complaint

Habakkuk looked at the violence and injustice around him in the nation of Judah. He
wondered where God was, and why God did not set things right. Habakkuk saw trouble
and sin everywhere, from personal relationships to the courts of law. This distressed
him so much that he cried out to God and asked God why He didn’t bring judgment and
immediately correct things.

The prophet initiated this conversation based on his distress about God’s “inaction” in
the world. He wanted to see God do something more, particularly in the area of justice
for evildoers. So much evil thrived, completely in the open, but God remained strangely
silent. Where was He? How long would He allow this mess to continue? Not long,
according to the Lord (Habakkuk 2:2–3). Another nation, the Babylonians, would come
and execute justice on the Lord’s behalf. The wicked in Judah, those who thought they
would get away with their evil deeds forever, were soon to be punished.

1 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.

Habakkuk’s Complaint
2 How long, LORD, must I call for help,

but you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?

Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?

Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,

and justice never prevails.

The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted.

The LORD’s Answer

5 “Look at the nations and watch—

and be utterly amazed.

For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
 even if you were told.
6I am raising up the Babylonians,[a]
that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
to seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are a feared and dreaded people;

they are a law to themselves

and promote their own honor.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,

fiercer than wolves at dusk.

Their cavalry gallops headlong;
their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
9 they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes[b] advance like a desert wind
and gather prisoners like sand.
10 They mock kings

and scoff at rulers.

They laugh at all fortified cities;
by building earthen ramps they capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—

guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”

Habakkuk saw trouble and sin everywhere, from personal relationships to the courts of
law. This distressed him so much that he cried out to God and asked God why He didn’t
bring judgment and immediately correct things.

C. The second problem: “Why do it this way, O LORD?”

1. (12-17) Habakkuk wonders why God would use a nation more wicked than Judah to
bring judgment on Judah.

I do not understand, Lord.

We will stop here for the meantime and later we will be studying about how Habbakuk
responded to what God revealed to him and his journey from doubt to faith

Habakkuk’s own personal journey was from a place of questioning, doubt and confusion at the
beginning of the book to a place of faith, hope and confidence by the end of the book. It iis
interesting to point out that the book of Habakkuk “begins with a question mark and closes
with an exclamation point.”

In fact we saw that the key verse of the whole book was Habakkuk 2:4: “The righteous will live
by faith.”
And I would guess that most of us would probably find it easy to exercise faith in God when we
are prospering, when life is going well and according to our plans.

But the book of Habakkuk challenges us to put our faith in God even during the worst of times.

God revealed to Habakkuk that his country was about to be invaded, pillaged and ransacked.
Habakkuk and his people would lose everything that they had built up over the years,
everything they had worked for. It would all be gone. Grabe ni ya nga problema ang gina tubang
ni Habakkuk.

In our situation right now, Could you still rejoice in the Lord if you lost everything – your job,
your home, your family? Is your faith strong enough to trust God no matter what?

This brings us to chapter 3 of the Book of Habakkuk. How do you exercise faith in God during
the worst of times? Habakkuk shares with us three things that he did, even when he was facing
the worst calamity of his lifetime.
Let’s look at these closing verses together and see what we can learn for the strengthening of
our own faith.
In this closing passage Habakkuk makes one of the strongest statements of faith you will find in
all of Scripture.

Habakkuk 3:16-19

16 I heard and my heart pounded,

my lips quivered at the sound;
decay crept into my bones,
and my legs trembled.
Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity
to come on the nation invading us.
17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength;

he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.

I. Wait patiently for God even when you are afraid. (verse 16)
The first thing you can do is wait patiently for God even when you are afraid. Look at verse 16.
Habakkuk writes: “I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept
into my bones, and my legs trembled.” (Habakkuk 3:16)

God had told Habakkuk about the coming invasion by the Babylonians. God had described the
arrogance, violence, and cruelty of these invaders in chilling detail. And Habakkuk is terrified at
what will soon take place. He is afraid. His heart pounds in his chest, his lips quiver, he feels
physically weak and hardly able to stand. This is Fear Factor multiplied by a hundred and ten.

Habakkuk wasn’t just dealing with the possibility of attack on his country but with the certainty
of attack. He was deathly afraid, and his fear affected him on a deep and even physical level.

How do you deal with extreme fear?

Habakkuk says to wait patiently for God even when you are afraid. Look at the second half of
verse 16: “Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.”
God had told Habakkuk the Babylonians were going to invade. There was no stopping that. It
was going to happen. But God had also assured Habakkuk that he would judge the Babylonians
for their sin, and that he would ultimately deliver his people. And so in the midst of his fears,
Habakkuk chose to wait patiently for God.

The phrase “wait patiently” comes from a Hebrew word meaning “to rest, or to settle down and
remain.” Here Habakkuk determines to wait patiently during this time of trial, to rest on God’s
promises.

He will spare the righteous. He always has a plan to deal with evil and always works out
justice . . . eventually. The example of the prophet Habakkuk encourages believers to
wait on the Lord, expecting that He will indeed work out all things for our good (Romans
8:28).
Romans 8:28 New International Version (NIV)
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love

him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.

God promises to give us his peace when we give our worries and fears to him. Philippians 4:6-7
says: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all
understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
Even if we do not understand
Wait patiently for the Lord even when you are afraid. Rest yourself in God.
II. Choose to rejoice in God even when everything in life goes wrong. (verses 17-18)

A second thing you can do is choose to rejoice in God even when everything in life goes wrong.
Look at verses 17-18: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”
(Habakkuk 3:17-18)

Habakkuk paints three scenarios here. Each scenario contains a matching couple of
comparisons

The first scenario is this: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the
vines.” The blossoms on the fig tree and the grapes forming on the vine refer to those things
you are trusting for the future. They are a symbol of hopes to come. It is just a blossom, just a
flower, and yet it is a tangible sign that the figs and the grapes are coming. But in this scenario
there are no signs for the future. The fig tree does not bud. There are no grapes on the vine.
There is no visible sign that these things will ever come to be.

Do you have hopes and dreams for the future, but no visible signs that they will ever come to
fruition? Do you ever feel like saying, “God, please just give me a little sign, some type of hope
that things are going to change, something to hold on to?” Then you know how Habakkuk felt.
And Habakkuk would tell you, when you have nothing to hold on to for the future, hold on to
God, and that will be enough. Habakkuk says, trust God no matter what. “Though I have no
visible sign of hope for the future, nothing tangible that I can see or touch or grasp, yet I will
rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

The second scenario is this: “Though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food.” The
olive crop and the fields refer to those things you are trusting in the present. They are a symbol
of your present means. But in this scenario what you are trusting lets you down. The olive crop
fails. The fields produce no food. They disappoint you.

The idea is this. You have planted and cultivated the fields, you have worked the land, tended
the crops and now it is finally time for harvest, and the crops fail. The fields produce no food. It
was all a deception. All that work, all that effort, and it all comes to nothing. You get laid off
after years of faithful service to the company. You lose your job and have no current source of
income. You invest all your money in what looks like a killer portfolio and the market goes bust.
You put years into a relationship with another person and now the relationship breaks apart.

What do you do when all that you are counting on in the present suddenly comes crumbling
down? What do you do when you suffer bitter disappointments in life? Habakkuk says, trust
God no matter what. “Though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, yet I will
rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

The third scenario is this: “Though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls.” The
sheep and cattle refer to those things you are trusting from the past. They are a symbol of your
reserves. But in this scenario you have no reserves to fall back on. There are no sheep in the
pen. There are no cattle in the stalls. Or, to put it in today’s terms, there is no money in the
bank. There is no more equity in the house. Your friends and family have helped you all they
can. Your credit cards are maxed out. Your physical strength is tapped. Your reserves are all
used up.

What do you do when you have nothing to fall back on? Habakkuk would tell you, fall back on
God, and he will hold you up. “Though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

It is easy to trust in God when the fig tree is budding and there are grapes on the vines, when
the olive crop succeeds and the fields are producing food, when you have plenty of sheep and
cattle in reserve. But are you really trusting in God at those times? Or are you trusting in the
things that you have? Think about Job. This was exactly the question Satan asked God about
Job. “Does Job trust you because he trusts you, or because you have blessed the work of his
hands?” Job showed his true colors when God removed the blessing, and Job continued to trust
him no matter what. Habakkuk challenges us with the same question. Do you really trust God,
or do you only trust him when you know his blessing on your life?

Here’s another way of phrasing the question. Which would make you feel more financially
secure – having a million dollars in the bank or having a God who promises to meet your daily
needs? Stop and think about that one for a moment. Be brutally honest with yourself. If the
answer is the million dollars in the bank, then you are not trusting God. And you know what?
That million dollars could be gone tomorrow anyways. But if the answer is having a God who
promises to meet your daily needs, then no matter what your situation, you can feel more
secure than the person who has the million dollars in the bank! That’s pretty good! That is
trusting in God no matter what.

Habakkuk says, “Though you have no visible hope for the future, and what you were trusting in
the present has let you down, and you have no reserves from the past to fall back on, still
rejoice in the Lord, still be joyful in God.” Why? Because he is God your Savior who will deliver
you in his time and will not let the righteous fall.

How do you exercise faith during the worst of times? Choose to rejoice in God even when
everything in life goes wrong.

III. Find strength in God to scale the heights even when you are down. (verse 19)

And then a third thing you can do is find strength in God to scale the heights even when you are
down. Look at verse 19: “The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of
a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.” (Habakkuk 3:19)
Habakkuk had learned to find his strength in God, not in his own resources or ability. We
people, it is within i=our nature to depend on our woe strength. Ah kaya ko ni ya. Indi ko na
kinanlan si Lord. Habakkuk was about to go through some rough times. The thought of it scared
him so much that his heart pounded and his legs trembled beneath him. Yet as he rejoiced in
God in the midst of difficult circumstances, he found new strength from God to deal with the
trial ahead.
A deer is always prone to attacks of wild animals such as lions or tigers.
Every time its life could be at risk because there is always the target of the
jungle predators. But God gave the deer tapering legs are able to bring it to
jump quickly. Deer’s legs even able to jump on hard and sharp rocks to get
to the top of the hill, a place where the deer will be in a much safer
situation. Deer is a weak animal, but the legs are able to set foot on rocky
hill, past the obstacles until finally arriving at the high and save places.

What is this strength like that God gives you? Habakkuk said, “God makes my feet like the feet
of a deer; he enables me to go on the heights.” Habakkuk paints the picture of a female deer
running on the heights of the mountains, steady and surefooted, uninhibited and unafraid, full
of freedom and confidence as she scales the heights. Do you long to enter the higher places
with God? Then find your strength in him alone. Trust God to lift you up when you are down.

Isaiah 40:31
but those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like
eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

How do you exercise faith during the worst of times? Wait patiently for the Lord even when you
are afraid. Choose to rejoice in God even when everything in life goes wrong. Find strength in
God to scale the heights even when you are down.

CONCLUSION: And so we have reached the end of our journey together through the book of
Habakkuk. Habakkuk’s journey mirrors our own journey through life. We saw that Habakkuk
began his journey with a lot of questions. “Does God care? Is God fair? Is God there?” But
instead of running away from God with his questions, Habakkuk kept bringing his questions to
God, and finding the answers that he needed. Habakkuk began his journey in the valley of
doubt and fear, and ended his journey scaling the heights with God with feet like a deer.
In our life, we often encounter disappointments, fears and trials. In our life we may see
ourselves questioning God and complainang but just like Habbakuk, I pray that in every
situation, in every trial and in every circumstance, we will journey from doubt to faith. And I
pray that God will also lead you to a place where you will learn to trust him no matter what,
where you may run along the heights in God’s presence with the feet of a deer. May God help
us to learn the beautiful lessons that he has recorded for us in the book of Habakkuk.

All things work together for the good of those who love him

It is a beautiful journey, and one that is open to all who will come honestly to God with their
questions, and seek him with all of their heart. God promises in Jeremiah 29:13: “You will seek
me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” And so wherever you may be in your
own personal journey. I don’t know what oyou are facting right now but from doubt to faith, let
me encourage you, keep seeking God. Keep coming to him with your doubts and with your
questions.

And I pray that God will also lead you to a place where you will learn to trust him no matter
what, where you may run along the heights in God’s presence with the feet of a deer. May God
help us to learn the beautiful lessons that he has recorded for us in the book of Habakkuk.

Yes, he had questions for God, but in the end, He trusted God and it caused him to
worship God with one of the most magnificent descriptions of the glory of God in all the
Bible

The name Habakkuk is derived from the Hebrew verb “embrace.”