Habakkuk: When God Doesn't Listen
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Habakkuk is one of the “minor” prophets whose book packs a wallup. As I grow older (not old, just older...=), I grow closer to all those passages in the Bible I avoided when I was in my 20s: Job (downer—it was the kids that got zapped), Psalm 119 (it’s rather long, isn’t it?), Jeremiah (they didn’t call him the “weeping prophet” for nothing—it’s rather a tear-jerker), Isaiah (sure, it teases us with golden songs of paradise, but Yikes! all that doom and gloom), and while I did find the book of Revelation intriguing as a “someday” thing, it’s sounding too much like today’s headlines, right?
I must admit, I think it was the Lord who guided me to this short book (only 3 chapters), and even though Habakkuk was probably living at the same time as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zephaniah (according to John MacArthur and others), I don’t think he was an “also ran” kind of prophet. He goes straight to the heart of the issue: Why is God allowing bad things to happen to good people—and at the hands of bad people, on top of it all?
Habakkuk's Question
Habakkuk starts off with a question with a demand for an answer:
O LORD [Yahweh], how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence! ” and you will not save?
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 (1:2-4, ESV) .
Habakkuk was living through the days after good King Josiah’s death. Josiah, you’ll recall, was the king that had the temple restored, discovered the book of the law, repented, tore down idols, and called Israel back to righteousness. All that progress was now being wiped away by Josiah’s son, Jehoiakim. The entire nation seemed to be reverting to idol worship and Jehoiakim was perverting all that was good. How could God allow this kind of unrighteousness to prevail? How could good men like Habakkuk, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zephaniah be crying out to God to change the course of their nation and God ignore them? Two key aspects of God’s character were being utterly shattered—the law and justice—and yet God seemed to be standing idly by.
Note that Habakkuk is using God’s covenant name, YHWH or Yahweh, as it’s generally spoken. This is the name used in Genesis 2, first revealed by God when Moses asked what he should tell Pharaoh about who was sending him, in Exodus 3. Moses penned Genesis (but didn’t author—God is the ultimate author), so it’s not hard to figure why the name is in Genesis 2 when it wasn’t revealed until Exodus 3. But Yahweh is often referred to as God’s covenant name, because God invoked his name when reaffirming his covenant with Israel in Exodus 6 when explaining to Moses what he was about to do.
I don’t think it’s mere coincidence or common usage that Habakkuk invokes God’s covenant name. He is reminding God of His covenant with Israel when asking why God seems to be ignoring the perversion of justice and the destruction of His people. Why would God allow such a thing?
God's Answer
God goes in a completely different direction from what Habakkuk must have been expecting. To put it in common vernacular He says, “You think this is bad? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!!”
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.
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, 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!” (1:5-11, ESV)
I can only imagine how Habakkuk must have felt when he heard this. It must have been a mule kick to the stomach, the wind completely knocked out of him. Not only was God ignoring the evil abounding around him, God was telling Habakkuk He was going to pile onto it with unimaginable evils, all perpetrated by those guilty of seeing themselves and their own power as their god. All when God Himself had commanded, “You shall have no other gods before Me!” in the very first commandment of His law (Exodus 20:3). Yet these men who were wholly sold out to pure evil were going to sweep God’s covenant children aside like sand in the flood of a roaring river. What could possibly be happening??!!
Habakkuk’s Response
When Habakkuk regained his breath, he reminded God of His covenant He had promised would last forever. God’s people could not die (1:12a)—God had promised His people would never be utterly cut off. God had promised to cut off the wicked, not His people (1:12b), so now He’s saying He’s not just going to allow evil to prevail over His people but He is the instigator of His people’s destruction (1:13)? Habakkuk pointed to God’s Sovereignty over the nations, and how He makes “mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler” (1:14) and yet the evil in man causes him to skewer his fellow man like a fish on a hook, so he makes offerings to his net as though it’s his god and then lives in luxury. Would God allow this evil to continue forever? (1:14-17). Habakkuk felt pretty good about pointing these things out, so sat back to see how God would answer his complaint. God was, after all, obligated to keep His promises (2:1).
God’s Answer
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" (2:2-4, ESV).
So God’s answer? All this will happen, even though the perpetrators are evil and full of themselves—it doesn’t matter. In fact, you can count on it as you can count on any of the very promises of God.
You, Habakkuk, and all the righteous believers who are affected by this evil, are to live in faith, believing God is Sovereign and that He is also Good. He would never do anything against His Word or His character.
God goes on to say that He will indeed punish the evil doers for the evil that they perpetrate, pronouncing five “Woes” on those who commit the evil (2:6-19). But then He states calmly, “the LORD [Yahweh the Covenant Keeper] is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him” (2:20, ESV).
Habakkuk’s Humble Response
So how does Habakkuk respond to being told to sit down and shut up?
O LORD [Yahweh the Covenant Keeper], I have heard the report of you,
and your work, O LORD [Yahweh the Covenant Keeper], 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, ESV).
Habakkuk then goes on to speak of the power and glory of Yahweh the Covenant Keeper, and can only say,
I hear, and my body trembles;
my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;
my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
to come upon people who invade us (3:15-16).
Habakkuk displays the true definition of “the fear of the Lord.” When confronted with the power, majesty, and holiness of God, he can only tremble, quite like how Isaiah responded when confronted with a holy God: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD [Yahweh the Covenant Keeper] of hosts [Master of the armies of Heaven, King of kings]!” (Isaiah 6:5, ESV).
So what is a proper “fear” of Yahweh the Covenant Keeper? Some pass it off as just something that produces love, so if we love God we fear Him. Others suggest it’s awe or respect. I would suggest that the fear of Yahweh is properly recognizing Who He is, as well as properly recognizing who we are. God is the Almighty (Psalm 84:12), the Sovereign Who speaks and all creation must obey (Deuteronomy 3:24), a Consuming, Devouring Fire (Deuteronomy 4:24, 9:3), a Fortress (Psalm 94:22), Just (Deuteronomy 10;17, Psalm 37:30), Flawless (Proverbs 30:5), and Holy (Job 6:10, Luke 1:49). We are unrighteous (Psalm 14, Romans 3:10ff), fallen (Genesis 3, Romans 5:12), evil of imagination (Genesis 8:21), deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), without understanding (Matthew 13:15, 1 Corinthians 2:14), and in need of salvation (Romans 6;23, Hebrews 9:27).
Our attributes in light of His attributes should give us pause when considering approaching Him, or at the very least when considering ignoring Him. We shouldn’t rush past Who He is when seizing on His Mercy (Deuteronomy 4:31, Ephesians 2:4), His Love (Jeremiah 31:3, 1 John 4:7-21), His Longsuffering Patience (Numbers 14:18, Romans 2:4, 1 Peter 3:20), His Salvation (Psalm 68:19, Isaiah 12:2), and His Comfort (Job 5:18, Psalm 86:17). Yes, God is all of those things, but He is also the Almighty Sovereign who can be a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24, 9:3).
So if Yahweh the Covenant Keeper is supposed to invoke fear—remember , “The fear of the LORD” [Yahweh the Covenant Keeper] is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7) and the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10)—it’s appropriate that this fear be part of Habakkuk’s response to a Holy God.
Yet in spite of everything about to happen along with being faced with a Holy God, Habakkuk closes by saying,
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,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD [Yahweh the Covenant Keeper];
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD [Yahweh the Covenant Keeper], the Lord [my Lord], is my strength;
He makes my feet like the deer’s;
He makes me tread on my high places (3:16-19, ESV).
Habakkuk states unequivocally, it doesn’t matter what happens—my entire universe can collapse—yet I will rejoice in Yahweh the Covenant Keeper because He is my salvation and my strength. He makes me as sure-footed in unimaginable circumstances as a deer on the side of a steep mountain. Because of this and this alone can I find joy in the midst of calamity. Habakkuk includes that he will wait for Justice (3:16)—not just the day of distress for himself and his people, but for those who perpetrate the evil—because his trust is in God, in Yahweh the Covenant Keeper.
