Complete Confidence - Habakkuk 1-3

"Should you be silent while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than they?" (vs. 1:11). It seemed to Habakkuk that God was indifferent and unresponsive to the evil permeating society in ancient Judah (vs. 1:2-4). So Habakkuk candidly expressed his concerns about the injustice and unrighteousness he saw all around to God. God’s answer to Habakkuk’s question was quite startling. God planned to send the Babylonians, a godless, cruel and violent people, to deal with the injustice in Judah (vs. 1:6). Habakkuk found it difficult to harmonize God’s answer with what he understood about God’s character. How could a holy and just God chastise Judah by using a people more unrighteous than the Jews were? God is sovereign and almighty and His plans are supreme, even to the extent that He can use the evil acts of people and the devil himself, to work His good purposes. The evil one is actively working to disrupt God's plan: "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10a). God’s plans, however, are not thwarted by acts of evil. God is actively working to declare His salvation to humanity and His redemptive plan is undiminished by the existence and activity of evil in the created order: "My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life" (John 10:10b). Like Habakkuk, we should have complete confidence in God to work His good purposes in our individual lives and in His created order no matter the circumstances: "Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! (vs 3:17-18).