Strength in Times Past
If one part of the psalm makes Habakkuk aware of God’s love in times past the other half draws his attention to God’s strength in times past and as the vision becomes clearer he slowly realises that he knew it all along. Mythology, history and most of his own experience testify to it. How could he ever have forgotten? It is not only God who has been here many times before. Habakkuk also has been here before, many times, and God has remained faithful and always pulled him through. How could he ever have doubted?
Like Job, Habakkuk too had had problems with God, got things out of proportion, and only come to see what was really happening when he got a bigger vision, saw how God was was all the time dealing with all the big issues but who nevertheless had always cared for him even if not always in exactly the way he expected.
Sometimes when God seems not to respond he may be waiting for us to see that our tight corner is not nearly as limiting or restrictive as we had led ourselves to believe. Could it be that his support and encouragement are of more value than his intervention? Some things must be left to work themselves out. Sometimes we just have to learn to wait and a tight spot is one of God’s ways of doing it, not least because when there is nothing we can do we have to be mature enough to accept. Some things too must be left for us to work out for ourselves. And some things (not a few) must just be left for God to resolve. Even he has to bide his time; otherwise he would surely have delivered the children of Israel from Egypt sooner than he did.
Once we get that far it is not quite such a big step to believe that when it really matters he will be there. So Habakkuk comes to feel that even in the waiting and the silences it is not quite so difficult to continue to believe and rejoice. He now knows that sometimes the best response to a tight corner is to sit tight.