Faith's Trial

Habakkuk's prophecy is very personal because he shares his questions about what God is doing. The law is being broken and God doesn't seem to care. But then, God tells him that the new world power, Babylon, ruthless and cruel in its advance, will invade Israel. His mind reels at the coming suffering, but what he cannot understand is how God can use such a totally godless nation to do this work.

Evil will always be beyond our understanding. And what God does about this requires that we stand humbly, as did Habukkuk, to see what God will do. This is seen most clearly in the sufferings of Christ. We stand benumbed and uncomprehending, but God tells us that this is his coming to deal with sin. It is this that prepares us to understand what it means to live by faith, and to be justified by faith.