Habakkuk 1:2–3

Habakkuk was distressed by three things. Such a state of things existed among the people of God. God delayed His answer. And He could not rightly send out salvation as the outward deliverance I have just described. There was wrongdoing in the very place where you would expect righteousness. It was among the people of God. This troubled him all the more. That the other nations should be full of wrongdoing was no wonder; that the Jews should be so was a deep trouble to his soul.

As he faces all these sorrows the prophet groans in spirit, for God's word allows a groan, but never a grumble (Rom. 8:22-27). What is more, the prophet speaks his groans to the Lord. Sadly, we believers too often discuss the failures of God's people among ourselves. We do it with such bitterness that the groaning becomes mere grumbling, or complaining about what God allows in His dealings with His people. So complaining to one another may reveal a hidden spirit of rebellion against God. Or it may be an effort to lift ourselves up by putting others down. It is good for us if we escape these traps by pouring out the anguish of our spirits, and the exercises of our souls, before the LORD.

The expression "How long" is a cry of faith that we often meet in the psalms and prophets. It expresses faith in the certainty that God, when the time has come, will answer. In the meantime, it accepts the trouble as a necessary trial.

Habakkuk was a man of faith and his first word: "Lord, how long…" shows this. However, his faith needed strengthening and enlightening. It was mixed with weakness. And indeed, it found an answer full of mercy, for God reprimands unbelief, but not the weakness of our human nature.

The issue here is not a spiritual salvation, but a temporal deliverance. The anxious soul would like to see peace restored, and the violent ones judged and taken away. The violence is there, it happens under our eyes, and — God does not answer! We repeat: this is not a lack of faith. It is the cry of alarm from a heart not yet firmly settled in trusting faith. It faces a problem that so far has no solution in his eyes.

Jehovah had other purposes. If He appears not to hear, and if He does not put out His arm to save, it is always to accomplish better things. Salvation here means salvation by external power, or deliverances shown on the earth… But without exception, wherever there is real faith, it must be tried. So the trial comes even before the faith is clearly in evidence. Yet without real faith underneath, we may be sure there would have been no such test.

How could he ever have said such words: "You will not hear"? In all the instruction the Lord gave him afterwards, He showed him that He had heard and always hears. With almost fatherly feeling He made it clear that these judgments were righteous. He had to allow them over His people and over the enemies of His people. But God also showed him that the righteous person still has help while going through the judgments, for he shall live by his faith.

He began by wailing and finished by rejoicing.

Here then the prophet groans, but he does what the Jews did not do in Hosea — he groans to God. The LORD had other purposes. If He appears not to hear, and if He does not stretch out His arm to save, it is always to accomplish better things. But wherever there is real faith, it must always be tried.

Habakkuk was a man of faith, and his first word — "Lord, how long…" — shows this. However, his faith needed strengthening and enlightenment. It was mixed with weakness. And indeed, it found an answer full of mercy. God reprimands unbelief, but not the weakness of our human nature.

But this was Habakkuk's distress: such a state of things among the people of God, and God delaying His answer... "Why do you make me see iniquity," if it is so deeply distressing? — iniquity in the very place where you would expect righteousness. It was among the people of God. This harassed him all the more. That the Gentiles should be full of iniquity was no wonder; that the Jews should be so was a deep trouble to his soul.

The prophet was a witness who stood apart from the people. He himself did not suffer under the violence, as the remnant will. He was a spectator and watched the suffering. The problem here was not Israel's idolatry. It was what has marked man corrupted by sin ever since the beginning of his history (Gen. 6:11): violence, and with it injustice, oppression, destruction, discord, and disunity among the people (vv. 2-3).

Consider the unhappy contentions and divisions found among the people of God. Contentions always signal trouble. Christ sets up the light of His gospel to walk and work by, not to fight and quarrel by. So it would be no wonder at all if He put it out and ended the dispute.

This cry does express our love for the believers who live through these disastrous times. Even so, our weakness shows a touch of self-interest!

Why does God allow the evil? How can He seem to forget His own, who are defenceless among the wicked systems of man? The prophet would soon receive the answer, but a different one than he expected. First he had to go through a sorrowful time of training. That training would become a rich blessing for his soul. Only then did he understand what God would bring about in the hearts of His own in days of trial.

He then lets the prophet know that this iniquity would not go unpunished. It had been troubling his soul, and he had been crying to God about it. The Chaldean sword would soon enter the land, sent to avenge His holiness.

Habakkuk's confusion led him to cry to the LORD. He came into His presence and asked Him about the things he mourned over. As a result, he got a wonderful view of the day of Christ. He learned what God's path was for His people until that day came. So he was let into the secret of how to be an overcomer in an age that looked dark indeed. To faith that same age was bright with the golden light of promises, and those promises fixed heart and hope on One who was yet to come.