When God Is Silent Day 1: Hab. 1:1-4

Read Habakkuk 1:1-4.

Read & Journal

• As you read this passage, what words or phrases would you use to describe how Habakkuk might have been feeling?

• Habakkuk opens his conversation with God with the idea of unanswered prayer. What prayers are you currently waiting for God to answer?

• What does Habakkuk’s honesty teach you about the kind of relationship God wants to have with you? How does his honesty challenge you?

• “How long” tells us that Habakkuk feels like he’s been calling out to God for a while, and his questions have been met with silence. Has there ever been a time in your life when it felt like God was silent? What did God teach you about himself through that season of waiting?

Ponder

“Injustice and unrighteousness are everywhere,” Habakkuk cried out to God, “even what we call justice is turned upside down.” Habakkuk may have been living 600 years before Christ was born, but if you’ve turned on the news or scanned it online recently, you know that his words could be as true today as they were back then.

Stop for a moment to consider what Habakkuk knew of God’s character. Living at a time when Judah teetered on the edge of captivity and Israel had already fallen, Habakkuk had God’s long history with Israel to look back on. He undoubtedly knew the stories of God’s faithfulness, of crossing the Red Sea, the glories of David’s reign. He knew what God had proclaimed about himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7, that he was compassionate and abounding in mercy, slow to anger and characterized by unfailing love and faithfulness. “I forgive iniquity,” God said, “but I do not excuse the guilty” (NLT). So if this is who God is, Habakkuk wondered why God would allow the world to be in such a mess.

Habakkuk may have been angry or sad, maybe disappointed—possibly all of those and more. But in the midst of his distress, Habakkuk didn’t turn away from God, but toward him. He took what he understood of God’s character—and all the things he didn’t understand or even doubted—and came to God with his questions, his fears and his anxieties. In the midst of a world falling to pieces, Habakkuk lifted his eyes to God.

Look around you. Injustice and unrighteousness are everywhere. What the world calls justice is perverted and distorted. You may question or doubt the character of the God who would allow it all to happen, but rather than turning away, be like Habakkuk. Lift your eyes to God and dwell upon his flawless character. In your doubts and worries and anxieties, turn to him, even if you don’t think you can trust his character—and let him prove that you can.