We know little about the prophet Habakkuk, except that he was called at a time when God’s chosen people were about to suffer a great loss because of their unfaithfulness.
If Paul had not quoted Habakkuk in his epistles to the Romans and the Galatians (“. . . but the righteous shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4b), we might pay little attention to him.
His book ends with these words:
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. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)
As sinners we are likely to rejoice in the Lord only when all is going well. Yet Habakkuk would rejoice when nothing was going well. Even if there is a devastating drought when nothing grows, so bad the flocks are dying, Habakkuk “will rejoice in the Lord,” and “take joy in the God” of his salvation.
If only we had faith like Habakkuk’s. A faith so trusting in God that when we have nothing, we trust we have everything, because we have Jesus.
Heavenly Father, give us steadfast faith like Habakkuk’s. Amen.