Habakkuk 1-3 (The Daily Walk Bible).
I love Habakkuk because he goes to God directly with his concerns. “Why are you letting the ungodly get away with persecuting the godly?” God answers, “I have someone coming to take care of that!” In horror, Habakkuk asks, “How can you let them do that? They’re more ungodly than the ungodly in Judah!” By then, Habakkuk realizes that he may have stepped over the line. He climbs into his watchtower to wait for the Lord’s reply.
God tells him what is going to happen and why it’s going to happen, and reminds Habakkuk that he needs to trust and have faith. “The righteous will live by their faith.” Habakkuk learns his lesson, and the end of the book is a psalm/prayer of praise!
I think that one of the biggest lessons that the Psalms teach us is that we need to be honest with God. If we have complaints, if we have questions, He already knows what they are, so why don’t we just get them out of our system? When we voice them, and then wait with expectancy for His answer (in part by looking at His Word), we will often find ourselves reassured and able to praise again, just as Habakkuk does here.
Psalm 131 “O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.”
Amen!