“Look among the nations and watch—Be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you.” (Habakkuk 1:5, NKJV)

Sometimes God’s ways are not our wants. We want there to be peace. We want everyone to agree with us. We want to be free to live as we please. If we worship God, then we want others to worship Him just like us. When the world is not as we want, then we complain.

This was the situation Habakkuk was in. He lived in Jerusalem at a time when the city was sick. There was violence in the streets. Strife and contention were everywhere. The wicked surrounded the righteous, but there was no justice. So Habakkuk complained, “How long shall I cry, O LORD, and You will not hear?” God was listening, but He would do something that neither Habakkuk nor the other citizens of Jerusalem would like. He would bring the Babylonians against them to destroy the city and burn the temple with fire. He would use an idolatrous nation, more wicked than them, to punish them. This was God’s strange work that no one would believe, and they certainly didn’t want.

Habakkuk had a problem with this. God could never regard evil, so how could He use a nation more wicked than them to correct them? But God’s ways are not our ways, and He doesn’t always give His children what they want.

The beautiful thing about Habakkuk was that he didn’t just get angry, anxious, or depressed; he complained to God. And when He didn’t like the answer God gave him, he didn’t become sullen, bitter or clam up; he continued to pour out his raw heart to God. But he did this with respect.

We may not understand what is happening. We may not even like how God is handling things. But we should always go to God and tell Him exactly how we feel. We may not like His answer, but at least we will know that we have been heard and that He is still in charge. God has a plan, and God is good.