Habakkuk Series-Pt. 1

Read Time: 4 minutes

It is often thought that because the Old Testament addresses an ancient culture, it has nothing to say to the contemporary Christian. My Bible study just finished a study on the book of Habakkuk, and the Old Testament again proves that this thought is just not true. 

With only three brief chapters, Habakkuk is easy to overlook. If the pages stick together, you may pass over it completely. But you’d be missing out if you did.

Habakkuk opens with the prophet bringing complaints against God, voicing confusion on how God is running things, and God graciously responds to him by revealing his plans. Plans that have long been in motion and are unexpected. God’s bewildering revelation leads to a perspective change for Habakkuk, exchanging his complaining for complete trusting.

This book, and Habakkuk’s complaints , parallels the questions I’ve brought to God since my diagnosis with Friedreich’s Ataxia. He echoes the same cries from my broken heart I thought never breached my bedroom’s ceiling. If it weren’t for the fact that this exchange happened 2,600 years ago, I’d wonder if Habakkuk hadn’t collected my secret prayers and published them in his book.

The position Habakkuk reaches by book’s end also mirrors the perspective change my encounter with God caused. The resolution that even when things are bleak and confusing, he’s the one I cling to. It’s a perspective I want to press deeper into.

The reality is I’m not ready to let go of Habakkuk just yet, so I want to spend some posts reflecting on portions of the book. It has a lot to say about trusting God in midst of turmoil. Hopefully, they’ll offer you some exhortation to face your tumultuous seas with faith.

Habakkuk parallels the questions I’ve brought to God since my diagnosis with Friedreich’s Ataxia

Habakkuk’s First Complaint

Habakkuk serves as a prophet over the tribe of Judah with its capital in Jerusalem. Judah, like its sister tribe Israel, has progressively moved away from following God. Even after the reforms of King Josiah, the people refused to return to obedience.

Habakkuk looks around and sees nothing but mess. The people are consumed with selfishness; they oppress the poor and unfortunate, stepping on them to receive gain. Fearful anticipation hangs in the air for violence can break out at any moment. 

Not for the first time, Habakkuk wonders where God is. These are God’s people and they are caught in recalcitrant immorality. A holy God cannot stand idly by while this wickedness burns the world to the ground.

Habakkuk releases the first of his complaints to God with the lament: “How Long?”

“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” (Habakkuk 1:1-2)

Habakkuk wants to know when God is going to step in and do something about Judah. He’s been pounding on the doors of heaven, begging for help, but silence is the only answer he receives. Things keep spiraling out of control, and the only one able to do something about it seems uninterested.

Habakkuk’s been pounding on the doors of heaven, begging for help, but silence is the only answer he receives.

Tearful Petitions and Cleaning Supplies

Man, have I been there.

I distinctly remember a moment in college when I felt completely unseen. After a series of events, with stalled scooters, violent falls, and times of needing to be bailed out by someone else, I wondered how bad the disability would need to get before God stepped into the rescue. 

My mind was heavy with discouragement, but I had a worship night that evening to attend for InterVarsity. It was an outdoor concert meant to attract fellow students as they passed by. I needed to be others-focused; I didn’t have time to be distracted by sorrow.

In effort to shake off my melancholy, I broke out the sponges and cleaner to scrub down my apartment bathroom. Because most college guys fight depression by scrubbing toilets, right? Obviously, this was an act of desperation.

With soaked sleeves and hands that smelled of bleach, I checked the time to realize I had 15 minutes before the worship event started. A small task had taken me an hour. Everything took more time than I anticipated. Another reminder that Friedreich’s Ataxia dictated my life.

While I had endured my disability, I waited for God to do something…anything at all. He could heal me, remove the pain of bearing the disability, or call me home. My preference was healing, but any of the options would help the struggle. God did nothing about my plight. 

Overcome with emotion, I sank to the bathroom floor and let the groans of my soul plea for his mercy.

It was a lament, a heart’s cry and complaint to God. I did not invent the practice of lament. It is all over the Bible: David used it in the Psalms; Jeremiah used it in Lamentations; even the martyrs in Revelation offered up a lament to God from beneath his throne.

Why would so many believers find themselves in a position where they needed to lament?

It’s enough to make you wonder if God vacated his throne. Or maybe he just stopped caring about the affairs of earth. Or worse, he doesn’t care enough about your problem to act on them.

Any of these alternatives lead only to despair.

The God who is always acting 

Thankfully, none of those alternatives are biblically accurate. God answers Habakkuk’s complaint of “when are you going to do something” with a simple response: “I am doing something.” (vs 5).

God already had a plan in motion before Habakkuk was even aware of the problem.

He informs Habakkuk he is (1) aware of the situation in Judah, and (2) moving everything along his purposed timetable. 

God does not fully disclose his reasons for “delaying” with Judah, but it seems that his mercy toward the wicked seem to be contributing to it. Even though his action seems late, God has been actively working behind the scenes.

God wasn’t surprised by the wickedness of Judah; he had a plan already in motion before Habakkuk was even aware of the problem. The same was true as I sat with slumped soul on the bathroom floor. He was aware and he was already acting.

“God, when are you going to do something?” may be my heartbroken accusation, but his answer to me is, “I am doing something. I haven’t stopped.”

God doesn’t need to check in with me or run his plans by me to get approval. He has told me in his word that his hands are working for his glory and my good. He’s committed to those things.

John Piper speaks to the majestic, and often mysterious, work of God: “God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.”

God is not reacting to the wickedness of Judah or to my progressive disability, like my begging shook him to attention and convinced him to get to work. Rather than reactive, God is purposed and his ways determined.

And that is some very good news.

Of course, it doesn’t alleviate the presence of the lament. As long as we remain in a broken world, the desperate plea for God to make things right will remain until he returns to renew it all. Lament reminds us that we are not home yet, and we are counting on the creator of the universe to intervene and do what we cannot.

Mark Vroegop has written an excellent book on the topic of lament, and how critical the art of lamenting is to our prayer life. It is called “Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy.” I encourage you to check it out.

Be encouraged, friend. If you trust and love God, know he is for you. He sees everything about the chaos you are currently in, and he cares for you. He is already working in your situation even if you cannot see it.

For Habakkuk, God provided further explanation of what he planned to do in Judah, and it leaves the prophet unsettled. It elicits yet another complaint from him against God. And we will consider that part of the story in the next post.

Until then, AJ

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