Do you believe in God?
This question can have several nuances: “Do you believe there is a God?” Or, “do you believe in a God but aren’t really concerned about what He is like/does?” Or, “do you believe in a God who isn’t engaged with us?” Or, “do believe god is simply a product of our creative imaginations?”
One of the most common obstacles to belief in God is that belief demands faith. Even if our idea of “god” is something other than an “out there” deity (such as technology or science), we must have faith in “it” if “it” is going to directly impact how we order our lives.
Habakkuk is a great study in faith. In fact, he’s the guy who wrote the famous phrase quoted by the Apostle Paul and every generation of theologian since: “The just will live by faith” (Hab. 2:4). However, that wasn’t his starting point. Habakkuk’s writing begins with a very different tone. The book opens with the painful question that also resonates through the ages, “How long shall I cry for help and You not hear?” (1:2). God seemed far away, oblivious to what was happening to His people.
God replies to Habakkuk with this: “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told” (Hab. 1:5). In other words, "You think you have me figured out. Careful. You are about to be very confused."
This is totally incomprehensible to Habakkuk. He asks, “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he” (Hab. 1:13)? From his perspective, God was not being very “God-like.” Bless the righteous, punish the wicked . . . isn’t that how it is supposed to work?
Nonetheless, Habakkuk stops arguing and waits for God to bring clarity to the situation. This is when God says to Habakkuk, “The just will live by his faith.” God describes the king of the pagan nation as a man driven by unmitigated greed and pride. In contrast, a righteous person is equally passionate but about different things. Their passion is to grow in their confidence in God and consequently to live with courage and righteousness - even when it doesn’t make sense.
The dialogue between God and Habakkuk continues and slowly the light comes on for Habakkuk. Here are his observations:
The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2:14).
a metal image, a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols (Hab. 2:18).
But the LORD is in his holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before him." (Hab. 2:20 ESV)
He concludes with this statement (if you can, read the whole book first - it will take you 10 minutes):
I hear, and my body trembles;
my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;
my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.
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 (Hab. 3:16-18).
Bottom line: Habakkuk was still intimidated. He was still confused. But he learnt this about the nature of faith: even though God is knowable, He is not always understandable. Habakkuk had confidence in God, courage for life because he knew God even though he didn’t understand Him.
This is why Solomon wrote, “God is in heaven, you are on earth; let your words be few” (Eccl. 5). Or, Moses when he recorded the story of Joseph, “You meant it for evil; God meant it for good” (Gen. 50:20). Or, every lament psalm that starts with a complaint but ends with a confession of trust (Psa. 113, for example). These authors of Scripture understood that just because God is knowable, He is not always understandable.
By its nature, faith means we learn to be OK with confusion. We learn to trust. We acknowledge where all authority and control reside (and it is not us . . . gulp). It grows as we learn of the multifaceted dimensions of God’s grace and love (Eph. 3:14-19).
The object of our faith is the God who is knowable, but not understandable. Faith in God sometimes is very confusing.
