Have you ever had someone answer a question, but then left more confusion then when you started?

I’ll go first. Calculus 2. 

My freshman year of college, I was an engineering major at Winona State, and my first semester I had taken calculus 1. Shoutout to my high school calculus teacher, because my first semester of college in Calculus 1 was a breeze. I had taken a half year of calculus in high school, and I distinctly remember my high school calculus teacher telling the class that this would be a hard class, but the goal was that we would be prepared for our first semester of college calculus, and boy was that true. I breezed through Calculus 1 in my first semester in college. It was all review, and it was comical that I had frequently gotten comments from my college professor on my tests “You should be a math major!” And “come talk to me after class, let’s talk career options!” Funny enough, I had been flagged early as a tutor for calculus. It was so easy, that I was cool and confident going into calculus 2 during my second semester of freshman year. I was going to crush it, because I was just so good at math. 

But did you know that, starting in Calculus 2, the numbers you work with are no longer “real” but “imaginary”? That second semester, I learned exactly why I did not ever want to be a math major or a math teacher. My mind could not wrap around the complex math that was required and the abstract thinking that came with imaginary numbers. Give me a derivative, a graph, an integral, and I was already working through a solution and it all made sense. But then, in calculus 2, let’s start substituting real numbers for imaginary, complete the square, learn differential equations, parametric equations, polar coordinates, and vectors oh my! I scraped through but barely. At the end of that semester, I came to the conclusion that I was done with math, I was not going to be an engineer, and I was completely okay with it because I had another career field in mind anyways. That semester in math had me doubting everything I had ever learned about math, and it left more questions than answers. 

Now, on a more serious note, have you ever been left with more questions than answers when devoting yourself to prayer or study in the Word? I certainly have, and Habakkuk has as well. 

Like I had mentioned previously in writing about Habakkuk 1:1-4 “In the Mess”, Habakkuk had many questions for God. Habakkuk was struggling to see how God was working and where God was at this time for his people in Judah. For context, the current state in Judah was a place of unfaithfulness, worship of other Gods, child sacrifice. They had turned away from God, and Habakkuk desperately was asking God, how are you tolerating all of these things that are so far from who you are?

This is where it gets spicy, because God answers Habakkuk and provides a solution, but I don’t think that Habakkuk could have dreamed that this would be God’s response.

First of all, let’s look at verse 5, because in our previous segment I promised we would look at this more. 

Habakkuk 1:5

Look at the nations and observe – be utterly astounded! For I am doing something in your days that you will not believe when you hear about it.

Habakkuk cries out for help and confronts God on what seems to be inaction on God’s part in verses 2-4. Habakkuk doesn’t know where God is and asks “How long, Lord, must I call for help and you do not listens or cry out to you about violence and you do not save?” In verse 2. In God’s response to Habakkuk, the first thing He says to Habakkuk is that He IS doing something. He’s working right now. Even though Habakkuk cannot see it, God IS working, and Habakkuk would not believe what He is doing. How cool is that? Sometimes in the mess, we truly cannot see how God is working, but we must trust that He IS working in the mess, and His work WILL come to fruition, because that is who He is and what He does. 

Now, get ready for the whiplash, because that’s exactly what God does in verses 6-11. Imagine Habakkuk’s thoughts when Habakkuk hears that God IS working, but it’s in a way that’s not going to work out well for Judah. As I mentioned before, the current state of Judah was a state of deep rooted sin and corruption, unfaithfulness, and terrible times. I truly do not know what Habakkuk was hoping for. Sometimes it would be nice if God would just snap His fingers and everything would be better. A radical change would occur and all of Judah’s problems would be gone, end of story. God wasn’t just going to “fix” it, but instead God was raising up the strength of another nation, the Chaldeans (Babylon), to execute God’s judgement on Judah, and it wasn’t going to be good for Judah.

Habakkuk doesn’t ask this question, but I could imagine if I were in his shoes I would wonder, “But God, I didn’t ask for this…” Habakkuk asks many big questions in verses 12-17. Why would God appoint a nation who hates God to execute judgement on Judah, God’s chosen nation? Why would God tolerate Babylon and raise them up to be strong when God hates evil? Why would God allow Babylon to have victory over Judah, a more righteous nation than them? God, how could you allow this nation to continue to swallow up other nations without mercy? 

I think, what it boils down to here, is this question: “God, are you really who you say you are?” 

And, a follow up, “God, if you really are who you say you are, how could things be this way?”

Here’s where I wish I could pull up my boot straps and have some amazing, theologically sound, and groundbreaking explanation for why everything is the way that it is in this world. But I don’t. I don’t understand why things are the way they are sometimes. I have asked God this many times, because there are things that happen in this world and on this earth that truly do not make sense to me, and they do not seem consistent with who God is.

So, where do we go from here?

I think Habakkuk’s spot-on with his next comment, because Habakkuk clearly doesn’t know how to reconcile, yet he waits. 

Habakkuk 2:1

I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the lookout tower. I will watch to see what He will say to me and what I should reply about my complaint.

Habakkuk wouldn’t place himself at a guard post or a lookout tower if he didn’t think God was going to answer. Habakkuk may not know what on earth God is doing here, but he does know that God will answer. God is God, therefore He has no obligation to explain Himself when it comes to what He is doing – that is where we have to trust. 

So then, that brings the question – WHO are we trusting? This is by no means an exhaustive list, but as you read these things, I want you to think – do I trust this God?

*God is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth (Exodus 34:5-6)

*God is the one, true God. None other is equal to Him (Isaiah 43:10-11)

*God is faithful and loyal to those who love Him and keep His commands (Deuteronomy 7:9)

*God is everlasting, Creator, never becoming faint or weary, without limit to His understanding (Isaiah 40:28-29)

*God is light, with absolutely no darkness within Him (1 John 1:5)

*God is faithful and righteous, a forgiver of sins (1 John 1:9)

*God is love, so much that He sent His son to give us life, that we might live through Him (1 John 4:7-10)

And, with all that goodness comes a God who never changes, therefore all the things that God is will STAY that way.

Hebrews 1:17

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Sometimes I know I have a challenging time accepting the fact that Calculus 2 just doesn’t make sense to me.

Kidding, I don’t actually care about Calculus 2 any more.

BUT, I’m jokingly referring to the serious note that I really struggle with being okay that I don’t understand something. Maybe it’s one of those things where we don’t have to understand everything, yet as long as we know the one who does understanding of everything, we can have peace. Realistically, I am not God, no matter how much I try to convince myself that I am in control and that I know what’s best. Habakkuk teaches me here that even though He doesn’t understand what is going on, and nothing seems to be making sense at this time, He is looking to the One who does know what’s going on and have confidence that the fullness of God will make itself known, no matter how challenging things look in the “right now”. 

Regardless of what is happening in our lives today, whether we understand why or not, I pray that you and I can climb our watchtower and anticipate our unchanging God’s good, good, work.