Habakkuk is a cool name, don’t you think? It feels interesting in the mouth, and apparently in Hebrew it means ‘to embrace’ or ‘to wrestle’. Now initially they seemed like to very different things to me, but actually I suspect there is a fine line between one and the other!

Anyway, Habakkuk is an unusual prophet because all of his words are addressed to God rather than to Israel or any other nearby nation.

Habakkuk wrestled, as so many of us do, with the Problem of Evil. That is, how can God be good when there is so much pain and hurt in the world? But Habbakuk decides to have faith in God, and that one day God will make things right so that there is no evil or pain any more. This is where I think the wrestling and the embracing come in. Wrestling with that most heartbreaking of dilemmas, and embracing our faith and having faith that the world won’t stay this way forever.

My favourite verse: Habakkuk 2.14: For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the Lord.

Thank you to Pixabay for the photo.