“When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.  

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. Habakkuk 3:16-19.

Facing the certainty of the coming destruction of Judah by Babylon, Habakkuk experienced fear and was shaken by the dreadful events ahead.  He knew the coming invasion would lead to destruction and starvation.  However, in a remarkable statement of faith and trust in God he pledged to rejoice in the God of his salvation and trust His sovereignty over whatever was to come.  The Lord God was his strength even in times of great trouble and He would see him through it.  A hind is a female deer that can place her back feet exactly where her front feet stepped.  She is able to run securely, even in times of danger, and not get off track.  The hind is able to scale unusually difficult terrain and elude predators.

We can be confident in the sovereignty of God even in difficult times in our lives.  Romans 8:28 tells us that all things will work out for good to those who are called by God and love Him and this promise should give us confidence even in times of trial.  According to the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, in Habakkuk 3:19, the name “Lord GOD” is used to describe God.  There the Hebrew word used for Lord is Adonai, which means “master, ruler.”  The Hebrew word for God is YHWH (Yahweh), which means “to be.”  Yahweh, or Jehovah, reveals God as the self-existent One.  It is the most sacred of all the names of God.  Therefore, when you combine these two names, Adonai Yahweh, the name can be translated as Sovereign Lord.

Let us remember Habakkuk’s faith in God, when all looked bleak, when we enter times of trial in our lives.  Let us always trust in our Sovereign Lord to see us through and to accomplish His will in our lives and in the world around us.