Trust

In the Book of Habakkuk, the prophet wastes no time in expressing his despair at the Lord's seeming lack of response to the injustice among Habakkuk's people.  Beginning in verse 2, he cries,

"How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?  Or cry out to you, 'Violence!' but you do not save?  Why do you make me look at injustice?  Why do you tolerate wrong?  Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.  Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails.  The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted."  

-Habakkuk 1: 2-4

And yet, just two short chapters later, Habakkuk's tale concludes with,

"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. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights."

-Habakkuk 3:17-19

What a complete 180!  Habakkuk goes before the Lord to complain not once, but twice about how much he distrusted God's wisdom in His dealings with Habakkuk and his people.  I personally think God responded pretty thoroughly the first time Habakkuk complained, telling him (among other impressive promises),

 "For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told."  -Habakkuk 1:5 

But Habakkuk wasn't satisfied with God's response and continued to distrust Him.  Though the Lord, the creator of the universe, reassured Habakkuk himself and directly reminded him of His great promises, Habakkuk still distrusted the Lord's plans.  Although I'd like to think that if I heard God speak so plainly to me, I'd definitely believe, I confess that I am more like Habakkuk than I care to admit.  In today's world, confronted as I am by injustice, disaster, war, pain & heartache, how quick I am to lose our faith in our Heavenly Father.  Even the burdens of daily life, work, friendships, and family succeed in separating me from my God.  I am guilty of asking Him, "WHY?" time and time again.  Why have you let this happen?  Why is it Your will that I live and work there?  I allow the joy that God has granted me in knowing Him to be snatched away by my circumstances and emotions.  I am human, so of course my emotions change- some days I'll be happy, some days sad.  But my feelings shouldn't determine my joy.  Joy is an unshakable gift from our precious Lord, and He has promised blessing that I cannot even imagine!  I choose to trust Him, just as Habakkuk learned to do. 

I want to leave you all with a snippet of yesterday's devotional from Girlfriends in God.  I pray today that you all will meditate upon these words and soak in the very presence of God as He so longs for each of us to do:

God promises that if you know Him you will know true joy. Joy is not merely happiness but rather an unshakable confidence that God is in control. Therefore, He is our one and only source of joy and stands ready, waiting to saturate every circumstance with His presence. As His children, joy is ours to claim.