Habakkuk’s Complaint

 For some reason, I've been drawn to Habakkuk. It is a short but powerful book.

Habakkuk’s complaint is a lot like ours at times: Do You hear me? Why no answer? Even the prophets of old felt this way!

It also made me think about a post I made back in December—Nothing Happens by Chance ( https://arts-bible-scroll.blogspot.com/2025/03/nothing-happens-by-chance.html ). At first, I thought this was a strange connection, but the more I reread Habakkuk, the more I see how it fits. Even though Habakkuk didn’t think God was hearing his cry, God was already moving and working His will.

I have felt like Habakkuk recently. I know that God is in control—I just need to let Him use me and accomplish His will. So, I will take my stand at my watchpost, station myself on the tower, and look out to see what He will say to me and how I will respond concerning my complaint. (Reproof, correction, rebuke, argument).

Habakkuk 1:2-4 (ESV)
O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.

God had answered Habakkuk, but he just couldn't see it, So God spoke to him and revealed what He was doing.  

The LORD’S Answer

Habakkuk 1:5-7 (ESV)
“Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own.
They are dreaded and fearsome;
their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.

This was not what Habakkuk wanted to hear. Could this be why we think God is not hearing us because we do not want to hear what His answer is?

Habakkuk 1:12-13 (ESV)
Are you not from everlasting,
O LORD my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die.
O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment,
and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
why do you idly look at traitors
and remain silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?

Habakkuk question God because he did not understand what God was doing.
But was willing to wait on God to answers him. He did not doubt God but wanted to understand

Habakkuk 2:1 (ESV)
I will take my stand at my watchpost
and station myself on the tower,
and look out to see what he will say to me,
and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

Habakkuk 2:2-4 (ESV)
And the LORD answered me:
“Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.
“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
 

God had Habakkuk write it on tablets so that the one who reads it may run.

God’s timing is not our timing. Habakkuk would not live to see all that God was doing, but God told him that it would happen. The righteous shall live by his faith.

Habakkuk was told that the Chaldeans, which is Babylon, would conquer Israel.

 Habakkuk 2:5 (ESV)
“Moreover, wine is a traitor,
an arrogant man who is never at rest.
His greed is as wide as Sheol;
like death he has never enough.
He gathers for himself all nations
and collects as his own all peoples.”

Habakkuk could not know why God would allow Babylon to collect all peoples.
But nothing happens by chance. All of this was part of God's plan, and we can see this in…

Daniel 1:3-4 (ESV)
Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.

Daniel 1:6-7 (ESV)
Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.

We can see how God used this for his glory. Sometimes it's not meant for us to understand.
This is why: The righteous shall live by his faith.

Habakkuk Rejoices in the LORD
Habakkuk 3:17-19 (ESV)
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor 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 the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.

One last thing did Habakkuk prophecy about the handwriting on the wall?

Habakkuk 2:10-11 (ESV)
You have devised shame for your house
by cutting off many peoples;
you have forfeited your life.
For the stone will cry out from the wall,
and the beam from the woodwork respond.

See Daniel 5 The Handwriting on the Wall 

I highly recommend reading and studying Habakkuk especially before you read Daniel.