The prophet Habakkuk cries out to God, frustrated by what he sees, and it seems antithetical to who He knows God to be.
Habakkuk 1:1-4
How long, O Lord, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
God gives His answer.
Habakkuk 2:3
For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come and will not delay.
God will come and bring justice and make all things right. In Habakkuk’s time, God told him he would use the terrible Babylonians to bring about justice for the long-standing sins of Israel. Habakkuk was even more frustrated. He was asking why God would use evil people to bring justice. He asks what about their evil as well.
God points to the end, end when He will make all things right.
But what do we do in the meantime? How do we deal with the apparent tyranny? The ongoing conflict in our hearts and minds of knowing God is just, yet we live in this unjust world.
God reminds Habakkuk 2:4
But the righteous will live by his faith
God fulfilled the prophecy against Judah in very exact detail and explained how He would use Babylon to bring it about—complete fulfillment of prophecy.
Yet, we still wait for the end. When all is made right, and we can see the goodness and justice of God prevail in all things all the time.
When wrestling with what appears to be a contradiction, we have in our hearts and minds. When longing for all things to be made right. We need to remind ourselves.
Habakkuk 2:3
For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come and will not delay.
And we need to live out verse 4:
but the righteous will live by his faith
We call out with the apostle John, ‘Come quickly, Lord Jesus!’ (maranatha).
But in the waiting, we don’t blame God and demean His character because things don’t appear as we think they should.
We trust God to make all things right.
We live by faith. Knowing He is good and believing He will come and restore all things.
