Habakkuk 1:12

Here is the prophet's answer to the LORD's word: "Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God?" It brings a measure of rest to his spirit. Now, instead of giving way to the sad tone in which he began, he is emboldened to speak plainly of the Chaldeans. He bows in some measure to the wisdom and righteousness of the discipline. If it is not complete yet, we shall find it has its perfect work before he closes. It is of deep interest to see such progress in the soul, and it is always like this where there is reality. Nothing is more painful than when believers settle down in a merely doctrinal statement of truth, or in the same experience day after day. They gather no fresh strength from the Lord. They should rather seek to turn everything, whether sorrow or joy, into a means of knowing Him better.

The prophet at once seizes on this blasphemy to appeal to God for the judgment of this wicked nation. They may deny the true God, but the prophet asks, "Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One?" Can God be indifferent to the wickedness of those who defy Him by claiming divine powers for themselves? Not while staying true to His own glory and holiness. Impossible!

Although God's Word announced only judgments (vv. 5-10), the prophet's heart overflowed with thankfulness to the Lord. Fellowship with God gave him the assurance that God, his God, was his Holy One. Here was a God who kept up a connection with him. And he was a weak, failing and ignorant man who, though a prophet, hardly knew His thoughts. That God is "from everlasting" and is therefore the God of the promises given to Israel. He took Habakkuk, the representative of His people, under His protection. He had given Himself to His prophet, and the prophet belonged to Him. What a privilege when the soul may speak so intimately with God!

The prophet bows to what the LORD has said. He admits that the people of God have come under the LORD's chastening for their correction. But he can add, "We shall not die." If God deals with His people in chastening, it is so that they may live in a way that fits Himself. If He deals with His enemies in judgment, it is their everlasting destruction, just as they deserve.

This proved that the Rock of ages, "the Rock of Israel," had not abandoned His people for good. When a father chastises his child, it is not to kill him, but to shape him according to his own character. This is how God deals with us too, "that we may share His holiness" (Heb. 12:10). This is a comforting thought. God acknowledges us as His children when He chastens us. He chastens us precisely because we are His children.

There is little said about their history. They were brought forward fully as a scourge, and this is clearly stated. Yet it cannot be without God taking them in hand in the end. Everything was measured. His mercy always measured the trial when His people had to come under chastening. Those self-assertive Chaldeans had human energy without equal. How blessed that God still only used them to correct His own badly failing people!

He knows the LORD as the faithful God, the covenant-keeping God. Such a God will not allow the nation to whom He has pledged His Word to be wiped out. His faith lays hold of that.