By Dan Lanier
The little book of Habakkuk in the Old Testament contains 56 verses and is tucked away between Nahum and Zephaniah. It is an obscure book that many have never studied in depth.
The book is the story of a man and his struggle with faith. Habakkuk’s name gives a hint about this. His name means, “To wrestle or to embrace.” Habakkuk served the Lord in Jerusalem around 605 B.C. He saw the nation of Judah declining rapidly on the inside and the enemy approaching from the outside. During these days, Jehoiakim was the evil king who took a knife and while the Word of God was being read, cut it up and burned it. Those days seem to parallel our current time. In the midst of the pandemic, the strife, and the confusion, we may ask as Habakkuk did, “God, where are you?”
Habakkuk was a man with open eyes, for faith sees things that many do not see. There can be a struggle with faith. Faith can cause problems because it is contrary to logic. The book opens with complaining and ends with rejoicing. Things will not change; they will become worse but Habakkuk will change. In life, storms will come. It rains on the just and the unjust, but we must remember that the rainbow comes after the rain. If you focus on your difficulties and problems, you will be confused.
In life, storms will come. It rains on the just and the unjust, but we must remember that the rainbow comes after the rain.
Webster says that confusion is, “disoriented with regard to one’s sense of time, place, or identity.” Did you know that you will become like that upon which you focus? Storms come and it is easy to try to wrestle with your storm and focus upon it. If you do, your life will become like the storm. You must trust God to get you through the storm and then learn to look beyond the storm when you are in the midst of the storm.
How do you do this? You come to realize that God is still God and He is in absolute control of all the circumstances of life. As Corrie ten Boom, the Dutch Christian who along with her family saved many Jewish lives from the Nazis during World War II and was herself sent to a German concentration camp, said, “There is no panic in heaven, only plans!”
Habakkuk opens with complaining but ends his book with praise! He learns to praise God in spite of the circumstances of life, focusing upon the Lord and trusting God with the outcome. Habakkuk is now seeing the beauty of the Lord in all the circumstances of life. By doing these things he learns how to, “Trace the Rainbow Through the Rain!” Will you do this today? Trust and obey God! He can see you through your storm today!
Lanier is senior pastor of Northcrest Church, Meridian.
