When we are facing difficulties, personal or worldwide, we need to find encouragement somewhere. We have a whole Bible full of encouragements, full of instruction and direction. There are also many other books available telling of miracles, and changed lives that God has accomplished for His people on the earth.
This short book began with a grumble reminding God of what the enemy was doing to His people. But Habakkuk has now persuaded himself that all will end well. It is always good to remember the past as an encouragement to ourselves and others that God is still on the throne.
God was fighting for His people. He still does. Maybe not in such a dramatic way as he did for Joshua. But maybe there are places where He is doing those things and we just do not hear about them. News media prefer telling of the tragedies and the disasters.
We understand that the Cushites and the Midianites were distressed and in anguish as they saw that the Israelites approaching. The next sentence is surely referring to when they crossed the Sea on dry land, then watched as the sea returned to its place and all the Egyptians were drowned!
When we are in the midst of problems as Habakkuk was, waiting in expectation for God to do something, to move, it is good to remember when He has done that in the past. That is why we have The Bible, so we can read appropriate passages and be encouraged.
Habakkuk 3 is a song of acclaim for what God has done in the past. It ends with a plea for Him to repeat His exploits. There is also a proclamation where Habakkuk declares that no matter how bad things get, he will choose to praise the Lord.
For Habakkuk at that time this could well have been an encouragement and remembering past history, he could be confident that God would be a tangible presence in His temple in Jerusalem where amazing things had happened in the past. I am sure he was remembering Solomon dedicating the temple.
This last word of criticism could speak to many who consider themselves christians today. There are places of worship in many countries which fall into this category. Many of the statues in those places are beautifully made. They were often designed as a reminder of what a believer can do.
Without the forgiveness of Jesus acquired on the cross we would be dramatically affected by the attitude God holds towards sin. Maybe most of us reading this have not committed the sins named in this chapter. But many of us have had very condemning thoughts about others.
As we continue through this response of The Lord to the complaint of Habakkuk, we can feel the anger and disappointment of the Lord with a people who knew Him and were chosen by Him, but have now forgotten Him. He is reminding us once more that He sees everything!
EN 
FR