Habakkuk

Habakkuk asks the question that everyone wants to know the answer to, just as much today as they did back then: "Why do the wicked prosper?" Habakkuk knows Yahweh's character. He asks Him how long He will hold off His justice and how long the law will be paralyzed (1:2-4). God's answer is not a satisfactory one in Habakkuk's eyes. He says that Babylon will exact His judgment on the surrounding nations (1:6). To Habakkuk, this is not helping anything. God is just using a wicked nation to take out other nations that are more righteous than them (1:13). Yahweh's next answer comes in 2:2-5. He tells Habakkuk to wait. He knows that it seems slow (2:3), but justice will surely come. Babylon will be judged for their evil. And He tells Habakkuk something very important- Paul even uses this phrase in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38- "The righteous shall live by faith."

That seems to be the summary of Yahweh's answer to Habakkuk. I know that it is hard and it seems like justice will never be served, but be patient. It will come. The righteous will trust in Me and have faith that I will do what I said I will do.

The rest of chapter 2 is a woe to Babylon. It's interesting that none of this has happened yet though. God just told Habakkuk that He would use Babylon later in His judgment on surrounding nations, then He proclaims His judgment on Babylon for the things they did in that judgment. Well they haven't done it yet. I don't know. I just thought that was interesting.

Finally, Habakkuk ends with a psalm to Yahweh. He remembers Yahweh's faithfulness in the exodus from Egypt. And the end of the book is so awesome. I'll just write it out.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor the fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in Yahweh;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;

He makes my feet like deer's;

He makes me tread on my high places.

This is so awesome. Habakkuk says that even when things are not going well, even when I am not being "blessed," I will take joy in the God of my salvation. That is awesome.

Habakkuk again, does not follow the general pattern of the other prophets. This is more of a dialogue between him and Yahweh than it is an oracle. But it's very important because, as I mentioned at the beginning, this question is asked even today. The answer is hard to handle but comforting as well, wait on Yahweh.

All for His glory,

Mitchell