(REFLECTIONS ON Habakkuk 1:1-17)

The cry of Habakkuk the prophet reflects our heart doesn’t it? We wait for the Lord, but then we don’t see anything happening and we blame God asking “How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and You will not hear?”

It reminds us that we are oh so limited in our vision and understanding of God and the way He works. Even a prophet of the Lord questions the Lord, doesn’t understand, and cries out for deliverance based on his understanding, timing, and heart.

Yes, perhaps the issue isn’t that the Lord is not working, but that we don’t truly understand the heart of God. Perhaps in addition to asking the Lord, “how long,” we can also ask the Lord to help us understand His heart better.

The words of Habakkuk the prophet,

2 How long, O Lord, will I call for help,
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do not save.
3 Why do You make me see iniquity,
And cause me to look on wickedness?
Yes, destruction and violence are before me;
Strife exists and contention arises.

What the Lord is doing is beyond Habakkuk’s understanding, as the Lord says,

5 Look among the nations! Observe!
Be astonished! Wonder!
Because I am doing something in your days—
You would not believe if you were told.
6 “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
That fierce and impetuous people
Who march throughout the earth
To seize dwelling places which are not theirs.

However, there is a purpose and a promise,

11 “Then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on.
But they will be held guilty,
They whose strength is their god.”

The Chaldeans in today’s Scripture is Babylon. That Israel was exiled to Babylon couldn’t be understood at this point even by God’s prophet Habakkuk, but the Lord will speak to him, and through him bring about an understanding of the Lord’s heart.

The exile to Babylon was not merely a random occurrence of violence against the people of God. It was an act of God’s righteous judgment, through which He would ultimately discipline His people and turn their hearts back to Him. Yet Babylon itself remained guilty for the violence it committed.

Yes, we cry out to the Lord, we pour out hearts asking for mercy, but may we also cry out to the Lord to understand His heart and know that He is good and His love endures forever.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Habakkuk 1