Habakkuk 1:5 Devotional: God at Work
Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. (Habakkuk 1:5)
Have you ever prayed for months or even years for a personal breakthrough or solution to a problem? After days of feeling like your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling, it’s easy to wonder if this is simply your lot in life. Is God not listening, or are you just not praying hard enough, long enough, or faithfully enough?
The prophet Habakkuk asked these same kinds of questions. He asked the Lord how long he had to cry out before receiving an answer (Habakkuk 1:2). From his perspective, God was standing idly and doing nothing while great injustice was committed against His people. Hostile forces had surrounded Jerusalem, so clearly God wasn’t hearing Habakkuk’s prayers. Or was He?
God’s answered, and His response amazed the prophet. God told Habakkuk to look around and see that the Lord was at work and had always been at work. Indeed, God had raised up the Babylonians, a wicked and idolatrous nation, to do His sovereign will. “What? That doesn’t make any sense,” you might be saying. “Why would God raise up a foreign power to persecute His chosen people instead of simply rescuing them? And what does this mean for me and my own problems?”
What it means is that God is at work, and you can be certain that God’s plan will surely come to pass (Habakkuk 2:3). It might take longer than you like, but make no mistake about it. It will happen as He wills.
So what are you supposed to do while you wait? He gives that answer too: As God’s child, you are to live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4). The more you walk by faith, the more you will learn to wait on the Lord, trusting that He will come through for you in just the right way at just the right moment. Even when your circumstances don’t seem to make earthly sense, you must defer to God’s greatness, His wisdom, and His faithfulness.
Remember this: When faced with a problem, if everything you try fails, God will be faithful. He will come through. And that is why you can rest assured that everything will be okay. He’s truly got the whole world—and your life—in His hands. God is at work yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He’s got this.
So rejoice in the Lord and in His mighty power! Take joy in knowing that the God of your salvation is sovereign and all-powerful. He will be your strength, and He will make your feet steady as you walk by faith (Habakkuk 3:18-19).
Dear Lord, I know you hear my prayers. I trust that you care about my concerns. You have my best interests in mind. I believe you have been at work and are at work even now. I rejoice that I will see your will accomplished in great, amazing, and even surprising ways. I will watch and praise your name even when nothing around me makes sense. Help me to wait on you, trust in you, and walk by faith every day.
Walking by faith and enjoying the homeschooling adventure of a lifetime!
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Davis is the president of Apologia Educational Ministries, the #1 publisher of Creation-based science and Bible curriculum. He is also the author of four illustrated children’s books designed to help kids learn a biblical worldview. He believes that if there was ever a time to homeschool, it is now! Davis’s four books include: Good Morning, God, based on Deuteronomy 6, A Light for My Path, an ABC book based on Psalm 119, In the Beginning, based on the Creation account in Genesis, and Psalms to Know Early.