One of my favorite prophets is Habakkuk. One day he got terrible news, a worrisome conviction. Hoards of soldiers were coming to conquer his city, Jerusalem.
"Violence!" he cried out.
"God, why do you make me look at injustice and tolerate the wrong things they are going to do to us?" He foresaw destruction and violence, strife and conflict. Wickedness would be a daily reality. There would be no justice in the land.
I think his fear of the future was something like we are experiencing right now with the explosion of Covid-19. Death, sickness and health scars span almost every nation around the world. Habakkuk sensed fear and dread. He described the coming tragedy in great detail. (See chapter one of his short book as he describes in vivid detail the arrival of Babylonian soldiers.)
What would your response have been with "a cavalry coming headlong, galloping towards us?"
Unbelievably, it was in the middle of these fears that the Lord gave an answer that we need right now.
We are facing unknown situations: illness, health complications, social dislocation, unemployment, a possible recession.
The Lord's response to Habakkuk's question speaks to us today. "See, he (the Babylonian soldier) is puffed up; his desires are not right, but the righteous will live by his faith..."
The righteous will live by his faith..." is quoted three times in the New Testament: Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38.
In moments of serious crisis God speaks to us in profound ways.
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