Habakkuk questioning God
- 10 hours ago
- 9 min read
Habakkuk’s book is quite short. It consists of just three brief chapters; therefore, Habakkuk is considered to be one of the Minor Prophets because of the size of the book. The prophet speaks of the impending judgment that God is bringing to the Southern Kingdom of Judah, and presumably he utters his oracle shortly before that judgment comes to pass.
The book opens: “The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw” (Hab. 1:1). An oracle is usually something that one either speaks or hears, but obviously the message that Habakkuk pronounces is one that he first of all got through a vision from God. The oracle begins with a complaint by the prophet. In agony and prayer, Habakkuk cries out: “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you, ‘Violence!’ and you will not save me? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted” (vv. 2–4).
No doubt every Christian at one time or another has had to face what has been called “the dark night of the soul,” periods of spiritual depression when it seems as though our prayers don’t go beyond the ceiling and when we feel that God is absent. At these times, we are not rejoicing in the sense of God’s presence but rather acutely feeling His absence. Add to that the dilemma that has puzzled the world for centuries: How can a good and holy and righteous God apparently sit by idly while watching wickedness triumph?
We might think that such questions are the reserve of unbelievers or those who are weak in their faith. It might therefore seem startling that this kind of question would be raised by a prophet of Israel. Yet this is precisely what Habakkuk asks as he cries out to God: “O God, how long do I have to keep praying, and there’s no answer? I come to You. I cry out to You. I say, ‘Look at the violence, the injustice, the evil that surrounds righteousness in the land,’ and there’s no answer. You’re silent. What kind of God are You to sit back and watch Your law be ignored? Why are You not quick to vindicate Your people?”
God answers in verse 5: “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded.” God tells Habakkuk that He’s going to do something, and that even though Habakkuk is a prophet who proclaims the Word of God, he will have trouble believing it.
The Lord goes on:
“For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own.
They are dreaded and fearsome;
Their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
Their horses are swifter than leopards
and more fierce than the evening wolves.
Their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
They fly like an eagle, swift to devour.
They all come for violence, all their faces forward.
They gather captives like sand.
At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh.
They laugh at every fortress.
For they pile up earth and take it.
Then they sweep by like the wind and go on.
guilty men, whose own might is their god!” (vv. 6–11)
If you think Habakkuk had a problem when he started his complaint against God, how do you suppose he feels after this answer? God tells him: “You think you’re seeing wickedness now? Wait until you see the hordes of Chaldeans that I am going to raise up to bring against My people.” (Habakkuk questioning God)
The prophet’s lament becomes even more emotional: “Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. You . . . are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong” (vv. 12–13). The prophet is crying out, asking how God can possibly tolerate such evil. He continues, "Why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet” (vv. 13–15). Habakkuk just doesn’t understand how God could do this.
Habakkuk has trouble accepting this, and he resolves in the next chapter, “I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower and look out to see what he will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint” (2:1). Habakkuk is not going to take this sitting down. He wants an answer to his question, and if he has to scale the ramparts of heaven itself to get it, that’s what he’ll do.
Here is the answer that Habakkuk receives:
And the LORD answered me:
“Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets.
So he may run who reads it.
For still the vision awaits its appointed time.
It hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come.
It will not delay.
“Behold, his soul is puffed up;
it is not upright within him.
but the righteous shall live by his faith.” (vv. 2–4)
Where have you heard that before? Did you hear it in Aldersgate in London? Did you hear it thundering from the pulpit in Wittenberg? Did you hear it coming from the writer of the book of Hebrews? Did you hear it twice from the pen of the Apostle Paul, unraveling for us the mystery of our own justification in the New Testament? The thematic statement of the entire epistle to the Romans is called forth from this seemingly obscure, relatively unimportant minor prophet of the Old Testament. In the blackest hour of Jewish history up to this point, God declares to His people: “The just shall live by faith.
That’s My answer to you, Habakkuk.” What does God mean? Is He inviting Habakkuk to close his eyes, take a deep breath, take a leap of faith from atop his watchtower and jump into the dark, and find that maybe the Lord will catch him? No, that’s not what He means. To live by faith means to live by trusting God, and that means trusting what God says. That is not intellectual suicide; it’s the most intelligent thing you could ever do. Yet we are so foolish as to assume that when there’s a difference of opinion between God and the world, it’s the world that’s got it right. If God says one thing and the whole world says another, because the world is near and dear to us and is present and seemingly effective at times, we are tempted to put our trust in what man says rather than to trust in the living God, who is patient and whose Word sometimes takes such a laboriously long time to come to pass.
Today, one of the primary issues in the church centers on the infallibility of the Scriptures. Ultimately, this is a question of the trustworthiness of God Himself as the Author of the Scriptures. Christians today are thrust into a conflict between the values expressed by God’s Word and those endorsed by scientists, academics, and secularists. It is arrogant to embrace man and deny God, and when you do that, your soul is not right. Yet the just man lives by faith. He trusts God. Sometimes that faith is not easy, not just a matter of saying, “Well, I simply believe.” Sometimes Christians, if they’re going to be people of integrity, have to hang on by their fingernails.
Habakkuk is saying, "You want me to trust You when I see the ravenous wolves of the Chaldeans coming forth to destroy my people? I’m supposed to trust You that it’s all going to come out right in the end? I’m going to see them destroy everything that we’ve worked to build up for generations and take my people away captive into a strange and foreign land, and You want me to trust You, God? Is there any hope at all that they’ll ever be restored, that they’ll ever come back from captivity? There are no signs of hope whatsoever, only destruction. I’ll never live to see it.” God explains: “Habakkuk, the just shall live by faith. Not a blind faith. Look at My track record. Read the history.”
From where do you get faith? Romans 10:17 tells us, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” There is no other way to get faith than to fill yourself with the Word of God. Read it. We can look at all the problems that confront us daily, and we can see God’s Word dealing with people and problems throughout history. God has demonstrated in history that He is worthy of our trust.
Finally, after Habakkuk complains about all the wickedness he sees and the unchecked idolatry throughout the land, a turn occurs with that beautiful biblical word, "but." “But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him” (Hab. 2:20). This verse is often used as a call to worship in churches. For Habakkuk, however, as he hangs on desperately, it’s more than a call to worship. It’s an affirmation, a courageous expression of faith through gritted teeth. “God is here,” he says. “God has spoken. Let all men be liars; I’m going to trust what God says.” That’s what it means to be a believer. That’s what it means not just to recite creeds or theology but to actually live by trusting what God has said.
Habakkuk then prays, "O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy” (3:2). Given the state of the church today, it’s tempting to read church history and pine for the golden ages of the past. Wouldn’t it be great to live in the sixteenth century, to have been there to witness the vibrancy of faith that marked the leaders of the Reformation? What about even earlier: the first century under the Apostles, or the fourth century under the leadership of Augustine? At such times, it can be helpful to pray like Habakkuk that God would make His kingdom visible.
Then we read: “Was your wrath against the rivers, O LORD? Was your anger against the rivers, or your indignation against the sea[?] . . . The sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they sped, at the flash of your glittering spear. You marched through the earth in fury; you threshed the nations in anger. You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed” (vv. 8, 11–13).
Habakkuk responds in verse 16: “I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; and my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.” God finally speaks, and at the sound, Habakkuk’s lips quiver. God says to Habakkuk, “You stand there and watch it happen and trust Me for the end.”
Habakkuk begins his response, “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls” (v. 17). The prophet is talking about economic disaster. In modern terms, we might speak of the stock market crashing totally and completely, the dollar being utterly devalued, or factories and farms grinding to a halt. “Yet,” Habakkuk goes on, “I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places” (vv. 18–19).
Let the world fall off the cliff and let the mountain crumble. May we walk with our God and rejoice that He is God. That’s the kind of people God wants for His own—people who live by faith, trusting Him for their future. That’s the kind of man Habakkuk was.
Every teaching series from R.C. Sproul is now free for everyone—forever. Stream his 170+ series in the Ligonier app to grow in your knowledge of God and His holiness, wherever you are. Make sure you update the app for the best streaming experience. Download at Ligonier.org/app.
Faith amid Injustice
GOD, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like those of a deer; He makes me walk upon the heights! — Habakkuk 3:19
Summary: Habakkuk records the prophet’s dialogue with God, expressing concern over the prevalence of injustice and violence in Judah. God reveals His plan to use the Babylonians as an instrument of judgment. Despite initial confusion, Habakkuk ultimately trusts in God’s sovereignty and justice, concluding with a prayer of faith and hope.
Title and Author: The book is named after its author, the prophet Habakkuk. His name is believed to mean “embrace” or “wrestle,” which is fitting given the prophet’s struggle with understanding God’s ways.
Historical Context: Habakkuk likely prophesied between 609 and 598 BC. This was a time of political instability and moral decline following the death of King Josiah. The Babylonian Empire was rising to power, threatening Judah’s security and sovereignty.
Audience and Purpose: The message is directed to Judah, highlighting their spiritual and moral failings and warning of Babylonian judgment. It addresses the prophet’s questions about God’s justice, assuring that God is sovereign and just, even when His ways are unclear. The book encourages faith and trust in God’s ultimate plan.
Genre and Style: Habakkuk is a prophetic book that combines elements of lamentation, dialogue, and prayer. It is poetic in style, especially in chapter 3, which is a psalm.
Comments