“How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” (v. 2)
Evil had erupted in Israel. It was bad. Justice was only for certain people, sexual immorality abounded, the poor were taken advantage of and strife and conflict abounded.
“Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted” (v. 4).
Habakkuk was frustrated. Why wasn’t the LORD doing anything about all this evil?
The LORD answers this way. And it’s not what you think.
“For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told” (v. 5).
This wasn’t a statement of something, “too good to be true.” It wasn’t that at all but rather the opposite. God is saying a judgment is coming so unbelievable that they wouldn’t believe it if they were told. The Babylonians were going to come and conquer Israel.
Habakkuk was appalled. Judgment? And by the hand of Babylon? That was exactly the case.
So Habakkuk had to ask how was it that God would allow a nation more evil than its own to destroy it? Babylon was the most evil, vile, hated people of the time. Even the Lord calls them “ruthless and impetuous” (v. 6). He says they are “guilty men, whose own strength is their god” (v. 11).
And this people? The evil, evil Babylonians were going to conquer Israel? How can this be? Wasn’t God righteous? This was his complaint. And in the next chapter God was going to answer him.
Habakkuk was frustrated. He hated the evil that was all around him. Perhaps he wanted revival. But instead they were going to get judgment. Terrible judgment. And it would be at the hands of those more wicked than themselves. It wasn’t what Habakkuk was hoping for or expecting.
Isn’t it disturbing to see the situation of Habakkuk? And the circumstances around him? The Western world right now is on fire. Evil is erupting like a volcano. Every day the news seems to bring us something new that is unbelievable. And perhaps people are asking God, “where are you?”
God will not tolerate evil forever. He did not tolerate it in the Assyrians as we saw in Nahum. And we are going to see he will not tolerate it either with the Babylons. But nor would he tolerate it for Israel either.
And the worse we go down the hole of evil, the more sever the cost of judgment it will take to uproot it.
We all know that we are on the brink of WW3. In fact, it has already begun but in an unconventional way. It is only a matter of time before it erupts in the more standard way of killing and death. We already see that in some spots of the world.
How do we respond?
- We stand strong and do not give in to compromise. Compromise is everywhere. We must draw the line when it contradicts with God’s Word.
- We must speak if we are given the opportunity. It’s been encouraging to see parents speak up in school boards and others speak up on public forums. We must speak. Peacefully. But uncompromisingly.
- We must repent in our own lives, turning away from evil. Easier said than done when we are often deluded by our own self-righteousness.
- We must pray that God will have mercy even in judgment. It’s coming.
- We must preach the gospel on all occasions. The only hope for this world is that it turns to Him.
