This little book has tremendous importance in today’s world. Whenever men begin to think through the problem of evil, and try to square the world as it is with a God of justice and power who holds all things in His sovereign control, they will find themselves drawn to Habakkuk. It is the cry of a man who looks at the evil of his day and cries out: What is going on? God, are You there? And if You are there, do You care what is happening to us?

Who he was, and when

We have no background knowledge of Habakkuk. The last part of 3:19, where he gives directions to the temple singers, would strongly suggest he had authority in the worship music at the temple — which would make him a member of the tribe of Levi.

The date is not stated, but from the book itself we gather it was at a low point in Judah’s spiritual history and just before the rise of the Babylonians (the usual name for the Chaldeans). That places it in the days recorded in II Kings 23:28–37 and II Chronicles 36:1–5.

Round one  ·  1:2–11  ·  The complaint, and an answer that made it worse

Habakkuk’s first complaint  1:2–4

How long, O LORD, am I to cry for help, but you will not listen? I cry out to you, “There’s violence!” yet you will not come to the rescue… That is why your teaching is numbed, and justice is never carried out.

Habakkuk 1:2, 4  ·  God’s Word

He describes the condition of the covenant people among whom he lives. They have fallen from their covenant status and wickedness abounds — it not only abounds, it seems to triumph. On the terms of Deuteronomy 27–30 God should have acted: there were blessings for the covenant keeper and curses for the covenant breaker, and there should certainly have been a response to the prayers of God’s faithful people living in the middle of the evil.

Habakkuk’s problem is that God seems disinterested. Wickedness continues unabated. And behind the personal distress is something larger: God’s purpose to bring the Messiah into the world through Judah appears to be under threat.

God’s first response  1:5–11

God’s answer was more shocking than the questions whirling around Habakkuk when he began. He prefaces it by warning that nobody is going to believe what He is about to say — and then tells the stunned prophet that He is going to sponsor the evil Chaldeans to bring judgment on His own people.

Look among the nations and watch. Be amazed and astonished. I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if it were reported to you. I am going to send the Babylonians, that fierce and reckless nation.

Habakkuk 1:5–6  ·  God’s Word

Round two  ·  1:12 – 2:20  ·  The harder question, and the verse the New Testament builds on

Habakkuk’s second complaint  1:12 – 2:1

How can God do this? Surely it is the end of any covenant relationship between God and His people. But deeper than that: how can a God of absolute holiness and purity even look at a people like the idolatrous Babylonians?

Your eyes are too pure to look at evil. You can’t watch wickedness. Why do you keep watching treacherous people? Why are you silent when wicked people swallow those who are more righteous than they are?

Habakkuk 1:13  ·  God’s Word

In effect: Your people may be bad, but nowhere near as bad as these idol worshippers. I came to You with a problem and You have given me a worse one. That God will punish them in their turn is, at this point, of little comfort.

Notice how Habakkuk handles it. He does not fall apart and cry in self-pity to his friends. He goes to his place of waiting on God, and waits for the only One who has the answers.

I will stand at my guard post. I will station myself on the wall. I will watch to see what he will say to me and what answer I will get to my complaint.

Habakkuk 2:1  ·  God’s Word

God’s second response  2:2–20

Prologue (2:2–3). He is assured that the incredible vision will come to pass — “If it’s delayed, wait for it. It will certainly happen. It won’t be late.”

The heart of the prophecy (2:4–5):

Look at the proud person. He is not right in himself. But the righteous person will live because of his faithfulness.

Habakkuk 2:4  ·  God’s Word

There are only two ways to live: in unbelief that draws away from God, or in faith that rests upon His character. It is this resting faith that constitutes a righteous man.

How shall a man live in the middle of such an evil time, and with the expectation of God’s judgment on top of it? What answers will satisfy a believer’s curiosity and anguish? There are no answers, says God. The righteous man lives by faith — that is, by affirming God’s goodness, wisdom and love at a time when everything going on around him contradicts it. When there are no answers that satisfy the human mind, the righteous man rests in the Answer Himself.

The New Testament takes this one verse and makes it the foundation of how we stand before God — Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:37, 38. In Habakkuk’s day the righteous man was the one who would stake his whole life on the character of God. That character has now been fully revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus; and if we would be righteous, it is not by turning to ourselves but to who He is and what He has done in Christ.

The woes of God’s judgment (2:6–20): His pronouncement against aggression, self-assertion, violence, the inhumanity of man to man, and idolatry. Notice that the woes are worded generally rather than named to Babylon — which is why they have kept applying to every empire since. And in the middle of them, this:

But the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD’s glory like the water covers the sea.

Habakkuk 2:14  ·  God’s Word

The section ends by answering the noise of the whole argument with one line: “The LORD is in his holy temple. All the earth should be silent in his presence” (2:20).

The answer of faith  ·  3:1–19  ·  Habakkuk’s prayer

His prayer  3:2

In the light of the threatening judgment, a cry that God will revive His work: “In the course of the years, renew it… In all this chaos, remember to be merciful.”

God coming in judgment  3:3–15

A vivid picture, and the imagery is deliberately borrowed: it is taken from the Exodus and the early history of Israel under Joshua. He is asking God to do again what He has already done once.

The response of faith  3:16–19

What does the righteous man who lives by faith look and sound like when he faces the coming days of judgment? No questions and no complaints — the triumphant statement that though everything contradicts what he believes, he will yet rejoice in the Lord, his covenant God.

Even if the fig tree does not bloom and the vines have no grapes, even if the olive tree fails to produce and the fields yield no food, even if the sheep pen is empty and the stalls have no cattle — even then, I will be happy with the LORD. I will truly find joy in God, who saves me. The LORD Almighty is my strength. He makes my feet like those of a deer. He makes me walk on the mountains.

Habakkuk 3:17–19  ·  God’s Word

It is this statement of faith that defines the joy of the believer. Happiness essentially comes from my reaction to the good things that happen to me. Joy, which is born of the Spirit, comes not from the things around me but from resting in God, whatever may be happening.

Before you move on

Notice what has and has not changed between chapter 1 and chapter 3. Habakkuk never gets his question answered. He is never told why the wicked prosper, or how a holy God can use a worse nation to punish a bad one. He is given something else instead: a vision that will not be late, one verse to live on, and God Himself in His temple.

The circumstances at the end of the book are worse than at the beginning — the invasion is now certain. The man is not. Even then, I will be happy with the LORD.

This little book is short enough to read many times over in a number of versions. As you do, the Spirit will minister true joy and peace to you in these troubled times.