1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

2 O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 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.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
5 “Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.

Habakkuk 1:1-5 (ESV)

Like bystanders watching a grand parade, human beings view history from a decidedly limited standpoint. What can be seen fails to tell the full story. When the sovereign Lord places in motion His plans, human beings often misunderstand His providences.

Habakkuk, a contemporary of Jeremiah, labored during a time of rapid political decay. In Judah, the righteous legacy of the good king Josiah had been abandoned by his son Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23:35-24:6). A callow and erratic monarch, Jehoiakim gained the throne only because he agreed to serve as Pharaoh Neco’s puppet. During his reign, he abandoned fasting and public repentance for sin. He also sought to kill Jeremiah and destroy the word of God (Jer. 26, 36). The vassal king’s weaknesses would later lead to further subjugation and disaster at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Chron. 36:5-8).

Given such times, Habakkuk openly questioned the justice of God. The wicked “paralyzed” the courts and “perverted” the prosecution of justice (v. 4). Righteous prophets were openly persecuted. How could all of this have happened so soon after the “golden age” of Josiah’s reforms? The prophet complained that evil went unpunished in Judah, and thus implicitly charged God with a failure to act (vv. 2-4).

Habakkuk got more than he bargained for when the Lord responded to his accusation. God was indeed coming to reprimand His people, but the method was unexpected. The Lord revealed His plans to raise up Babylon in order to crush Judah and send them into exile, even as Assyria earlier had done to Israel (1:6). But what justice is there in allowing the pagans to conquer the people of God, sinful though they may be, Habakkuk retorted? (1:13) God answered the prophet: all nations will answer for their sins, including Babylon (2:2-20).

Everyone must face the day of the Lord. Habakkuk’s understanding of righteousness was small. God brings all persons to account for their wicked deeds, even His covenant people. Once Habakkuk realized the breadth of God’s righteousness, he changed his tone and could but plead to his sovereign “in wrath, remember mercy” (3:2).

God’s covenant people today are found in the Church. As in the days of Habakkuk, the Lord reserves the right to punish all those arrayed against Him, even if they claim to be Christians (cf. Rev. 2-3). Consequently, God’s people must be holy and not those who grumble about the mystery of divine purposes. As the great seventeenth-century English philosopher of science Francis Bacon once wrote, “Men must pursue things which are just in the present, and leave the future to divine Providence.” “The just” after all “live by faith” (Hab. 2:4; Rom. 1:17).

The Church can have no confidence without holiness. They must not curse the darkness if they themselves are wicked.   

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article adoped from Karios Journal

First Baptist Church of Perryville, one and a half miles east of Route 222.