May 21

From: Daily Sacrifice By: Henry Allan Ironside

Habakkuk 1:2‑3

“O Lord, how long shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto Thee of violence, and Thou wilt not save! Why dost Thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention”— Habakkuk 1:2, 3²O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! ³Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. (Habakkuk 1:2‑3).

THIS is the cry of a soul in perplexity. Habakkuk saw iniquity apparently triumph on every hand; righteousness had fallen in the streets: sin and evil were manifest everywhere. Was God indifferent? Had He forgotten His afflicted people? How often have we known similar experiences only to learn at last that God never overlooks anything; that His eye is upon all the ways of the children of men, and in His own due time He will manifest Himself in omnipotent power. Let conditions be as they may we should trust and not be afraid, assured that none can turn aside His will.

“I don’t look round me; then would fears assail me,

So will the tumult of earth’s restless seas;

So dark the world, so filled with woe and evil,

So vain the hope of comfort or of ease.

I don’t look in; for then am I most wretched;

Myself has naught on which to stay my trust;

Nothing I see save failures and shortcomings,

And weak endeavors crumbling into duet.

But I look up—into the face of Jesus,

For there my heart can rest, my fears are stilled;

And there is joy, and love, and light for darkness,

And perfect peace, and every hope fulfilled.”