Sometimes it can be challenging to read the Old Testament. It can be difficult to understand how words written so long ago are relevant to us today. This year, with all we’re facing as a nation and world, I think many of us find it easier to connect with portions of the Old Testament.
Consider, for example, Habakkuk. I don’t generally hear much about this tiny Old Testament book, but it contains relevant messages for us today. I was reminded of this when I received an email about reviewing a complimentary copy of Habakkuk: Remembering God’s Faithfulness When He Seems Silent, a new Bible study by Dannah Gresh. I gladly took advantage of this opportunity because Habakkuk contains words I need to hear!
To really appreciate Habakkuk, we have to understand the historical context and general theme of the book. Habakkuk lived in Judah before the Babylonian invasion (likely toward the end of Josiah’s reign or at the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign). He likely lived to see Jerusalem attacked by the Babylonians in 597 B.C. In his book, Habakkuk wrote a dialogue between himself and God. He was struggling to understand God’s ways. He saw the wickedness, discord, and oppression that were rampant in Judah, but he didn’t see God doing anything in response. He wanted to know why. By the end of the dialogue, he learned to find peace in God’s sovereign appointments and to wait for God’s working with a spirit of worship.
If you look around today, do you see discord, striving, oppression, wickedness, devastation, suffering, or confusion? Does it sometimes seem like God is standing by doing nothing about these things? If you answered “yes” to these questions, then you would likely benefit from this Bible study.
As Christians, we often throw around platitudes (“this will make you stronger,” “when God closes a door He opens a window,” “God never gives us more than we can handle,” etc.) instead of engaging with the reality of uncertainty and suffering. Habakkuk does this, and so can we with this study.
Remembering God’s Faithfulness When He Seems Silent is designed to be completed over six weeks (there are five meditations—short lessons to read, contemplate, and pray through—each week). There’s also a podcast series with weekly content available online (video recordings of the podcasts are also available). This content kicks off each week of the study. The study is designed to be completed within a small group, but it would still be meaningful to complete it with just one other person or even on your own if a small group isn’t a possibility right now. This study is couched as a “Bible study for women,” but I want to note that it isn’t specific to women. The aesthetics of the book may appeal more to women and women may connect more with the examples used in the study, but it is completely relevant to men.
What I really like about this study is that it isn’t a rosy, rainbows-and-unicorns study. In other words, it doesn’t gloss over the issues we face and address them with the platitudes I mentioned earlier. It’s a more nitty-gritty, in-the-trenches study. It addresses difficult topics such as what to do when God seems silent and how to bring questions before God.
If we really engage with the study, I believe it will give us the confidence to join Habakkuk in declaring the following:
“When the fig tree does not bud, and there are no grapes on the vines; when the olive trees do not produce and the fields yield no crops; when the sheep disappear from the pen and there are no cattle in the stalls—I will rejoice because of the Lord; I will be happy because of the God who delivers me! The Sovereign Lord is my source of strength. He gives me the agility of a deer; he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain.” Habakkuk 3:17-19 (NET)
Have you done any good Bible studies lately? I’d love to hear about them!
A complimentary copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
