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A few years ago, my daughters bought a couple of guinea pigs. One thing I noticed about these guinea pigs is that they were filled with anxiety. They would run into their homes at the slightest outside movement. If you tried to pet them, they would freak out. It was understandable, though. They are little creatures in a big world. There are a lot of animals that would like to eat them. So, their anxious system helps protect them.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized, we are a lot like guinea pigs. We are ready to run at the slightest sign of danger, whether real or not. We have a lot of anxiety. There’s good reason to have anxiety. We are small in a big world. There are a lot of dangers. There are many things we can’t control that affect our well-being. However, it’s worse for us. Our imagination is much greater than that of guinea pigs. We can see and imagine all sorts of threats that they would never think about.
Here’s the problem. Our anxieties can help us avoid threats, but they can also become debilitating. In the face of overwhelming circumstances, we can lose all hope. Joy can disappear. We can settle into bitterness and become enslaved to worry. So, how do we work through the struggle and find a joy that arises from hope? That is the message that the prophet Habakkuk has for us. In this prophecy, we have a glimpse of how Habakkuk struggled with anxiety over the events in his nation. In the end, he came to a place of joy. How did he find it? That’s what we will consider in this passage. We will consider this in three steps, the problems Habakkuk sees, the vision Habakkuk sees, and the joy Habakkuk finds.
The Problems Habakkuk Sees
Habakkuk was a prophet in the southern kingdom of the Jews, Judah. He was concerned about what he saw there.
How long, 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 wrongdoing?
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 (1:2–4).
Do you ever cry out like that? Do you ever look at what is happening in your nation and cry out for justice? That’s what Habakkuk was doing.
