Habakkuk 1:2-11; 3:17-19
Habakkuk’s Complaint and The LORD’s Answer
The book of Habakkuk is
very special in the series of Minor Prophets because it neither issues any
warning nor declares any judgment like other prophetic books. Instead, it
records the conversations that took place between the prophet and God.
Prophet Habakkuk raised
many questions to God. In fact, he made complaints to God: Why do the wicked
prosper and the righteous suffer? Why are there violence and injustice happened
and God seems to ignore them?
How did God answer
Habakkuk and how was Habakkuk’s final response to God?
A Complaint of Faith
How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or
cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at
injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and
violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore,
the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the
righteous, so that justice is perverted. （Habakkuk 1:2-4）
Habakkuk witnessed that
there were continual violence, strife, injustice, unlawfulness and wrongdoing
in the nation, but God seemed to allow all these evils to be rampant without
hearing his prayers.
The religious mind and
knowledge of the prophet informed him that God was righteous and merciful.
Nevertheless, how could a righteous and merciful God tolerate all these evil
doings?
Hence the prophet
questioned God, “Lord! Why do you ignore all these?” The prophet was raising a
question here. He was not doubting God. Rather, he acknowledged that God was
aware of all these happenings and he believed God had the power to intervene.
So, he asked God, “Why do you tolerate?”
We see Habakkuk’s
unwavering trust from here. Though he was weakened in his faith, he did not
forsake God. The weakening of his faith did not affect the foundation of his
faith.
Today, we might easily
doubt of God’s existence whenever we see injustice occurring rampantly in our
surroundings or whenever there is injustice falling upon us. We ask if “we have
trusted wrongly” or question like “where are you, Lord?”, whenever we encounter
frustration.
How shakable our faith
is!
Prophet Habakkuk never
doubted about the existence and power of God. He just wanted to know the reason
the way God allowed these to happen. What was the reason God allowed the wicked
to encroach the righteousness yet took no notice of it?
At that time, Israel was
occupied and oppressed by the Assyrians. Violence and unlawfulness were rampant
in those days. Therefore, the prophet called out desperately, “Lord, why do you
tolerate?”
Yet from the answer given
by God to Habakkuk, we know that He was not tolerating and He was paying
attention.
God said He would raise
up the Chaldeans, i.e., the Babylonians, to deal with all these violence and
injustice done by the Assyrians.
“Look at the nations and
watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that
you would be believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians,
that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize
dwelling places not the own. They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a
law to themselves and promote their own honor. Their horses are swifter than
leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong’; their
horsemen come from afar. They fly like a vulture swooping to devour; they all
come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather
prisoners like sand. They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at tall
fortified cities; they build earthen ramps and capture them. Then they sweep
past like the wind and to on—guilty men, whose own strength is their god.”
(1:5-11)
In BC 605, King
Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylon besieged the Kingdom of Assyria with his army,
and continued his conquest over Egypt and Judah. God indeed had raised up the
Chaldeans to punish those unlawful and evil people and nations.
However, prophet Habakkuk
could not accept the fact that God had raised up another nation which was much
more brutal to deal with the nations that did evil. To him, how could God send
a nation who was much more violent and ferocious to do the judgment since He
was a holy God? (Habakkuk 1:12-17)
Habakkuk was perplexed.
How did God answer him?
A Vision of Faith
When the prophet
mentioned about God’s answer to him, he talked about his waiting upon the word
of God. He “will stand at his watch, and station himself on the ramparts, that
he will look to see what God will say to him, and what answer he is to give to
this complaint.” (Habakkuk 2:1)
He stood on the watch of
his city and looked from afar, and he was watchful to see what God would say to
him inwardly. He saw with his spiritual eyes. He stood on the watch with his
spiritual eyes wide open, and he kept himself vigilant to hear what God had to
say to his heart.
This is a good example of
the attitude we should have when we seek God.
We often see our problems
with our limited mindset when we encounter something we cannot understand. We
do not step up and look afar from high, and see God’s response from a wide,
deep and long perspective. We do not wait upon the Lord.
Instead, we refuse to
take heed of God’s voice whenever we face discouragement. We still engross in
sorrow. We want to rely on our own ways to solve the issues. Let’s remember the
example of Habakkuk, the way shown to us of how he had sought God.
God’s answer to the perplexity
of the prophet Habakkuk:
“Write down the
revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For
the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not
prove false. Though it lingers, wait for it; it will certainly come and will
not delay.”
“See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but
the righteous will live by his faith—indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant
and never at rest. Because his is a greedy as the grave and like death is never
satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the
peoples.” (Habakkuk 2:2-5)
God referred to Chaldeans
as “people who were puffed up and whose desires were not upright”. All the evil
things did by the Chaldeans were seen by God and He would not tolerate them
either.
The following text,
vv.6-20 point out that they were reaping their disasters for whatever evil
things they had done unto others:
(1) They killed and
plundered and they would be robbed themselves;
(2) They lost their lives
because they were greedy for unrighteous gains;
(3) They brought to
themselves destruction because of their brutality and merciless acts;
(4) They suffered shame
because of their wickedness;
(5) They deceived others
and were finally self-deceived because they worshipped idols.
God will not tolerate the
wicked whenever they oppress the righteous. He said, “There will be a certain
time when I will exercise my punishment and judgment.” “The wicked are not
punished because their days are yet to come.” “Yet the righteous person shall
live by his faithfulness” is what God says to those righteous who suffer under
persecution.
This are the most
important words in the book of Habakkuk. Paul expressed the truth that “the
righteous are justified by faith” in the book of Romans as he based upon these
words that “the righteous person shall live by his faithfulness”.
Martin Luther initiated
the stunning 16th Century Protestant Reformation which was based on
this truth. The foundation of Christianity is built upon the belief of
“justification by faith”.
God says, “the righteous
shall live by his faithfulness”. It means though the Israelites suffered in the
hands of those who were more wicked than them, they would live by their
faithfulness if they were to keep their faith firmly in God and to be faithful
to God until the very end. They shall be preserved by God unto the day of
judgment.
Let’s not doubt the
existence of God whenever we see injustice and unrighteousness happening around
us where the wicked are prosperous while the righteous suffered.
Instead, we should
continue to keep our faith unwavering and to be faithful to the God we trust.
Then, we will be able to move forward regardless of how hard the difficulty we
do encounter.
The Bible says that,
“those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.” If we are willing to keep our
steadfastness in God and to hold resolutely to our faith, we will then be well
prepared to receive God’s peace and grace.
However, if we do not
trust in God and we grumble against Him, then we shall receive His punishment
and corrections. The Chaldeans were puffed up and they were not upright in
their hearts, hence disasters fell upon them. Yet the righteous shall live by
their faithfulness in God.
The answer of God opened
the mind of Habakkuk. He came to understand God’s heart and he rejoiced in
singing out his song of faith.
A Song of Faith
Prophet Habakkuk burst
out his praises to God after he received God’s answer. He recalled the history
and related God’s mercy and righteousness in executing His acts of salvation.
These included His appearance on Mount Sinai, the miracles in Gibeon and His
saving acts in the Red Sea and the River of Jordan (Habakkuk 3:3-16).
God answered the queries
found in the heart of Habakkuk, and Habakkuk accepted God’s explanation. He
sang forth his song of faith. The climax of this song is found in the last
three verses:
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no
grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no
food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I
will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in
God my Saviour. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he
makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to tread on the heights.
(Habakkuk 3:17-19)
Habakkuk demonstrated a
life that naturally flowed out of salvation by faith. “Salvation by faith” made
his feet continued to be like the feet of a deer that treaded on the heights.
This is the most truthful and beautiful picture depicting one’s faith in God.
Though he might be
surrounded by darkness, he saw beyond his difficult environment the God who
controlled and ruled over all things. We are absolutely secured in Him for in
Him one shall be saved by faith in the midst of darkness and despair, and one
shall soar high above all the darkness and pains in life.
“Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the
fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in
the stalls”.
Though there was no produce and no
harvest and his home was laid in ruins and his life was in a total chaos, he
would rejoice in the Lord and be filled with
faith. “Rejoice in the Lord and be
joyful in God my Savior.”
Let us be like the
prophet Habakkuk, that we will never forsake God. Instead, we should seek God
with no doubts. We should hear God with our heart and we should see God’s
righteous acts through our spiritual eyes. God will never tolerate and He will
not ignore. The wicked shall receive their punishment in the day determined by
God.
Let us be faithful to God
and stand firm in our faith without wavering. It is when we are willing to take
a step of faith that we can experience what Habakkuk had experienced: We will run
with the feet of a dear and tread on the height even when all things are
covered and laid low under the darkness. This is something that flows naturally
out of our faith in God.
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