Habakkuk was so distressed, disappointed and dissatisfied because God did not listen to his complaints. He kept crying, but God did not care. Habakkuk was concerned about the spiritual decline of his people. He called for God’s urgent attention, but nothing happened.
On top of Habakkuk’s anguish about his people, his own personal situation became so bad, that it came to a point that the fig tree did not bud and there were no grapes on the vines, the olive crop failed, the fields produced no food, there were no sheep in the pens and no more cattle in the stalls (paraphrased).
It was certainly a very difficult situation. Perhaps you and I go through difficult situations. We are all worried about the increased amount of evil in this country. All that happened in El Paso and Clayton, Ohio grieves our hearts. Why does so much evil prevail in such a good country? Together with that, all of us also have our own personal problems.
Yet, Habakkuk sheds some light of hope in his book. He says, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord”. It doesn’t matter what is happening around me or what my personal situation is, “I will rejoice”. This happiness is based on his trust in God, that he finally resolved that “the righteous will live by FAITH”. In spite of all the hardship we go through, we can say “YET”.
