Author: Abigail Damoah

Habakkuk 3:3-4 “God came from Teman, The Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise.”

Living in a world where evil reigns, one often asks the question, “Where is God?” Children are murdered, rape, hatred, senseless killings saturate the news daily, and the wicked continue to prosper. “Where is God?” Is a genuine, and valid question; however, it is not a new one. 

Habakkuk was a prophet sent by God to the nation of Israel, he was sent during a time of spiritual decline and moral upheaval. The society was much like it is today, its inhabitants had strayed so far away from God that evil, violence, injustice and distress were the norm. Habakkuk asked the same questions that believers of this day continue to ask. “Why do you show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention arises. Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgement proceeds.” (Habakkuk 1:3-4) 

The name Habakkuk means to “embrace” or “wrestle,” Habakkuk embraced the goodness of the Lord. At the same time, he wrestled with the apparent indifference of God towards the evil that was taking place in the world around him. The majority of Christians can relate to this dichotomy.

Habakkuk was a man of prayer, and throughout the book, we see that he took all of his concerns to the throne room. He went from questioning God, to trusting Him, he made the transition from anxiety to adoration. He simply made the choice to trust God, and focus on His awesomeness as opposed to worrying about how He was going to rectify the worlds problems, and this was his mindset in the above verses. 

Teman was located in southern Idumea, it was referred to as the land of the ‘sons of the east.’ When Habakkuk says, “God came from Teman, he is referring to God appearing out of the east. The sun rises from the east, He is eradicating the darkness, and inaugurating a new day, as the sun shines over the earth, God is shining over his people. Click To TweetGod is shining over his people.

The root verb for Paran means, ‘to glorify,’ indicating that God will glorify Himself in Israel. Habakkuk has come to a place in His relationship with the Lord, where he understands that there is a greater purpose behind the evil that he is surrounded by. He is now able to look into the realm of the spirit, and see what God sees,  and that is, that one day in the future, the earth will be full of praise for the Great and Mighty One. A time is coming when every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Philippians 2:10-11)

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” We may not understand why we have to suffer in life, but God does. No one understood why I was found guilty of a crime that I did not commit, and sentenced to 12 years in prison; but there was a purpose behind it. Now that I have been delivered, I can see why I had to endure. I survived a seemingly insurmountable situation, because my hope and my trust was in the Lord. Like Habakkuk, I witnessed the hand of the wicked prevail against me, after spending months questioning God, I began to trust that the word He had given me would come to pass. Five years into a 12 year sentence, all charges were dismissed, previous sentence vacated, and here I am writing this devotional. Glory to God!

As God had a plan for the nation of Israel, He also has a plan for your life. You may be sick, in a rocky marriage, your children are rebellious, whatever trial that you are currently facing, the Lord has promised to perfect all that concerns you. So hold on, and lift your eyes up to the hills from where comes your help, deliverance is at hand.

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word.

“Be still, and know that I am God.” – Psalms 46:10

Standing still while the wind of tribulation is blowing in your life sounds like an impossible task to the natural mind. However, when your trust and faith is in the Lord, He will quiet the tempestuous places in your mind and spirit as you wait for your deliverance. In 2nd Chronicles chapter 20, when Jehosophat was grossly outnumbered by his enemies, and about to go into battle, God said, “Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you.” Jehosophat was a man of faith, and that is what it takes to wait upon the Lord. 

It takes faith to watch your child self destruct at the same time as standing on Isaiah 54:13, “All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.” It takes faith to believe that you are going to be successful but the only job that you can find barely pays minimum wage, and at the same time believe Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Your faith is not activated in comfortable surroundings. Click To Tweet

Your faith is not activated in comfortable surroundings. It is when there appears to be no hope, that you are going to drown amidst the waves that will not cease from their tossing to and fro that faith wins its crown. Every man and women used by God throughout the bible experienced hardships that most of us today would not be able to endure. Joseph was sold into slavery by his envious brothers, accused of attempted rape and thrown into prison. Abraham had to wait 25 years for the deliverance of Issac, and then he was asked to kill him. Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness herding sheep after being raised in the kings palace. Paul was stoned, whipped, shipwrecked, imprisoned and persecuted on every side. Each one of them remained faithful during their trials, and in the end they were elevated, re-positioned and catapulted into their destiny. Joseph became the King of Egypt’s right hand man, Abraham became the father of many nations, Moses led the children of Israel out of captivity, and Paul wrote the majority of the New Testament. 

Ephesians 2:20 says, “Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” A foundation is a solid ground or base upon which a building rests. Before the building is built, the foundation must go through a series of tests to ensure that it is strong enough to withstand the weight of the building. God had preordained that He was going to build his church upon the foundation of the first prophets and apostles; therefore, He had to put them through a rigorous testing process to ensure that their faith was strong enough to do so. When they were going through what they were going through, they had no idea how God intended to use their lives. Gods perspective is eternal, He is strategic, He moves by methodology, and there is a purpose behind everything that He does. I am sure the saints of old are rejoicing in heaven having full knowledge of how imperative their roles were in Gods glorious plan. 

We can learn valuable lessons from what the former prophets did and did not do during their hardships. We will never understand why the Lord allows misfortune into our lives, but one thing we do know is that once we have overcome, we can use our testimony to assist someone else enduring the same or a similar trial. Second Corinthians 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves received.”  Gods methodology has not changed, He is doing the same in His children now, as He did in the Old and New Testament. 

As we overcome each hardship in life, and experience the delivering power of the Almighty, not only will our faith increase, but we will be able to understand the purpose behind the adversity we endured. 

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word.