Habakkuk: When God’s Ways Trouble Us
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Suggested Image:Prophet Habakkuk (classical painting or engraving)
Caption:Habakkuk — the prophet who dared to question, and learned to trust.
Last week, in Nahum, we saw the fall of Nineveh and the justice of God. The great oppressor was brought low. Judgment came, just as the Lord had said.
This week, we turn to a different kind of prophet.
Habakkuk does not begin with a message to the people.
He begins with a question to God.
A Prophet Who Asks “Why?”
Habakkuk lived in the final years before the Babylonian invasion of Judah, around 600 BC. Violence, corruption, and injustice filled the land.
And Habakkuk saw it.
But instead of speaking first to the people, he spoke to the Lord:
“O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear?”— Habakkuk 1:2
This is not unbelief.
This is faith that is struggling to understand.
Habakkuk is troubled that evil seems to go unchecked. Why does God allow it? Why does He seem silent?
God’s Answer — and a Greater Problem
God answers — but not in the way Habakkuk expects.
He tells the prophet that He is raising up the Babylonians to judge Judah.
This creates an even deeper problem.
The Babylonians are more wicked than Judah.
How can God use a more evil nation to punish His own people?
Habakkuk asks again.
He watches. He waits.
The Turning Point: “The Just Shall Live by Faith”
God’s second answer does not explain everything.
Instead, it gives something better — a foundation to stand on.
“The just shall live by his faith.”— Habakkuk 2:4
This single line will echo through the whole Bible. It will be taken up by Paul in Romans and Galatians. It will stand at the heart of the gospel.
Habakkuk is told:
You may not understand what God is doing. But you can trust who God is.
Woe to the Proud
God then pronounces a series of woes upon the proud and the violent — including Babylon itself.
The message is clear:
No nation, no power, no man escapes the judgment of God.
Even the instrument of judgment will itself be judged.
History will not be ruled by human strength, but by the righteousness of God.
A Prophet at Peace
The book ends not with a question, but with a song.
Habakkuk does not receive all the answers.
But he receives something deeper — confidence in God.
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom…Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,I will joy in the God of my salvation.”— Habakkuk 3:17–18
This is one of the strongest statements of faith in all Scripture.
Not faith when things are going well.
Faith when everything is falling apart.
The Lesson of Habakkuk
Habakkuk teaches us how to live when we do not understand what God is doing.
We may bring our questions honestly to Him
We must wait for His answer
And we must learn to trust Him even when the answer is hard
From Nahum, we learned that God judges evil.
From Habakkuk, we learn that God’s ways are higher than ours — and that faith holds fast when sight fails.
Closing Prayer
Lord, when we do not understand Your ways, teach us to trust You. Keep us steady in faith, and help us rejoice in You in every season. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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1 My faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary,
Savior divine!
Now hear me while I pray,
take all my guilt away;
O let me from this day
be wholly Thine.
2 May Thy rich grace impart
strength to my fainting heart,
my zeal inspire;
as Thou hast died for me,
O may my love to Thee
pure, warm, and changeless be,
a living fire.
3 While life’s dark maze I tread,
and griefs around me spread,
be Thou my Guide;
bid darkness turn to day,
wipe sorrow’s tears away,
nor let me ever stray
from Thee aside.
4 When ends life's transient dream,
when death’s cold, sullen stream
shall o'er me roll,
blest Savior, then in love,
fear and distrust remove;
O bear me safe above,
a ransomed soul.
--Author: Ray Palmer (1830)
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