Habakkuk 1:3–4

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.

In the opening verses we learn the prophet's anguish of soul as he confesses to the LORD the low condition of the people of God. His spirit is troubled, not simply by the wickedness of the nations, but because of the evil among the people of God. That circle should have shown gentleness and righteousness, peace and harmony. Instead he sees violence and corruption, strife and contention.

There was iniquity in the very place where righteousness might have been looked for. It was among the people of God, and this weighed on him all the more. That the Gentiles should be wicked was no wonder; that the Jews should be so was a deep trouble to his soul.

"Therefore the law is powerless." The purpose of the law, earlier given by the Lord Himself, was to break the will of man. Man should have learned to apply "justice" under the protection of the law. But it "never goes forth." On the contrary, "the wicked surround the righteous." Take special note of that phrase, "the righteous." We meet it again in chapter 2.

He also sees that there is no power among the people of God to deal with the evil. They fail to use the word of God. He has to admit that "the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth." The wicked have the upper hand, so any judgments they reach are wrong or perverted.

How can it be that "justice never goes forth"? And when judgment does come, why is it "perverted" — the opposite of what a God-fearing, righteous soul would expect? No matter where the faithful believer turns, everywhere he meets injustice and ungodliness.

The nation had neither known the Lord Jesus nor understood the voice of the prophets who had announced Him. Worse: it had condemned its Messiah and in doing so had fulfilled what Habakkuk had said of them: "justice goes forth perverted" (1:4).

The Lord would soon answer. Meanwhile, the righteous one can only conclude what God has seen ever since sin entered the world. Apart from those who have been justified through faith, there is not one righteous person in this world.

"Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" This quotation is taken from a prophet who was no lawgiver like Moses. In his day he mourned to see the law utterly disgraced, as all his fellow prophets did in theirs. He turned for salvation to his holy One, whose word of gracious promise would not always delay (Hab. 1:3-4; 2:1-4).

Habakkuk's confusion led him to cry to the LORD. He came into His presence to ask 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 should come. In this way he learned the secret of how to overcome. To sight and sense his age was dark indeed. But to faith it was bright with the golden light of promises that fixed heart and hope on One who was yet to come.