Habakkuk is a compelling example not only of prayer, but also of patience. He says, "I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us" (Habakkuk 3:16). God has promised to discipline His people, He has promised to judge the Babylonians, and He has promised to fill the earth with the knowledge of His glory; therefore, Habakkuk will wait humbly and quietly for the fulfillment of each promise, be it judgment or blessing.
Remember that Habakkuk knew nothing about God's timing on all this. He didn't know the hour or the day, he didn't know the month or even the year - and normally, neither do we. Though we find the promises of God throughout Scripture, they don't come with specific dates and times. Therefore, when our circumstances contradict God's character and promises, we're tempted to supply God with a time frame and demand that He fulfill His promises according to it.
Habakkuk's example is different. He quietly waits - and that takes faith. It takes faith to wait tranquilly for something for which we have a promise from God, but no date.
What promise has gone unfulfilled in your life so far? Marriage? Pregnancy? Healing? A particular promotion or position? Salvation for a loved one? Will you, like Habakkuk, quietly and humbly wait for God's fulfillment of His promise? If Habakkuk can wait quietly for divine action on the grand scale he had in view, then surely you and I can calmly yield to God's timeline in our relatively little lives.
Please don't misunderstand this. Waiting is not resignation; waiting is an active trust in God to provide fulfillment in His perfect timing, according to His ultimate purpose of glorifying His Son.
Yes, the righteous person shall live by faith - and that faith requires waiting.
- C. J. Mahaney, Humility: True Greatness
Links: Wait Patiently (20 Oct 09), Houseparty 2010 (2 Feb 10)
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