God has answers.
Habakkuk asks questions that resonate deep in our souls. Why do good people suffer? Where is God when evil people succeed? Why doesn’t He put an end to pain and suffering, injustice and oppression, war and disease? If God really exists, why doesn’t He show Himself? If He is powerful, why doesn’t He act? If He is loving, why doesn’t He intervene?
This ancient book shows that perplexing questions like these are nothing new. And we can find encouragement in the fact that God never reproached His servant for saying what was on his mind. The Lord’s care for honest questioners might even be conveyed in the prophet’s name, thought to mean “Embrace.” In the end, the Lord provided some answers to His servant Habakkuk but also urged the prophet to trust Him to watch over His people and ultimately establish justice, even if His methods are not always easy to understand.
Habakkuk’s reference to the Chaldeans (Hab. 1:6, where “Chaldeans” refers to the Babylonians) suggests that his words date to the late seventh century B.C., perhaps shortly after the Battle of Carchemish (605 B.C.; see “The Battle of Carchemish” at Jer. 46:2). If this is accurate, Habakkuk would have been a contemporary of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, speaking at a time when the Babylonian empire was on the rise and preparing to march against the nations along the Mediterranean coast.
This atmosphere of political turmoil under the leadership of people who have rejected God’s ways may sound familiar. Yet God showed Habakkuk, just as He shows us today, that He can use anyone to accomplish His purposes.
Key Verses in Habakkuk
• “The just shall live by his faith” (Hab. 2:4).
• “Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed, who establishes a city by iniquity!” (Hab. 2:12).
• “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14).
• “The LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him” (Hab. 2:20).
• “Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines … yet I will rejoice in the LORD” (Hab. 3:17, 18).
• “He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills” (Hab. 3:19).