This is one of the books of the Bible that I have really never spent much time with, and for whatever reason, I picked it up as my bed read.  I think the pastor mentioned it this weekend in the Sunday sermon and the book just stuck in my mind.

In studying the background and doing the full read through this morning, I bumped into a statement that really stuck with me that a commentator used to describe a major theme of Habakkuk;  he said that the five woes that make up the second half of chapter 2 aren’t unique to Babylon, that because of the human condition, most nations actually become Babylon in time.  Without God, most people do the same. This is a theme I am sure I will camp out on when I get to chapter 2.

The book also reminds me a lot of Job, as it is really more of a dialogue between Habakkuk and God rather than a judgment by Habakkuk on the people. What’s great is that because it is so short, I can dig into it and get a lot out of it without the fatigue I often feel in studying the longer prophetic books that take so long to get through, and require a lot of reminding as to context, time, place, etc. The last few verses of this book really resonated with me this morning:

3:17-19:

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.”

This just reminds me that God‘s presence is enough, or it should be enough. My circumstances may not be what I desire, but God is with me, God hasn’t forgotten me, and God loves me. It reminds me that God‘s provision for me and love for me isn’t defined by what’s happening around me in the moment. God is working through me and on me with a much bigger perspective than what I could possibly see or understand.