The opening of Habakkuk is about what righteous people do in the midst of difficult times. Habakkuk cries out to the Lord about the evil he sees around him and is answered – eventually. It may not have been immediate – Habakkuk may have been praying for answers for a long time before receiving one. And then, when it came, it was kind of a terrible answer! He is going to bring in the Chaldeans to discipline His people. It may have been startling to finally get an answer, especially one so dissatisfying.
So he replies, opening by acknowledging how much higher his God is than he is. God is from everlasting, from before, outside of time. The word he uses is qedem, before time.
Then he interjects the statement, “we shall not die.” Habakkuk knows about the covenants with Abraham, with Moses, with David, but clearly he understands that there is an everlasting thread to this. He will protect his people – but we get a whisper here of the everlasting life that comes in the New Covenant.
So Habakkuk acknowledges God’s higher perspective and His promises to His people. But then he pushes his questions again – why is God using the Chaldeans, who are so much worse than the Israelites?
He calls out God on His own terms – if God cannot even look at evil, how can he countenance these invaders? It is easy to compare ourselves to others, to focus on other people’s sin rather than our own, to focus on other group’s sin rather than our own.
Habakkuk continues to press his case, now against the invaders instead of his own people. He speaks in terms of fishing implements, hooks and nets, both because of the importance of fishing to the Mesopotamians but also because the Neo-Babylonians would even use those tools in their conquests.
Habakkuk closes with a promise to wait for God’s reply. This time, he will not be caught off guard. This time, he is ready for correction – he is ready for the reproof of God, just as God has prepared the Chaldeans for the reproof of Israel. There may be some softening here, now that he has had a chance to say his piece.
We should similarly be situated on our own watchtowers, ready for reproof from God. All of us need that correction. God is changing the focus for Habakkuk from the world around him into focus onto his own need for reproof.
But God indeed is also working in the world around us, even when we don’t see it. But for God, who lives outside of time, there is no delay between sin and His judgement, but in His mercy he leaves opportunity for repentance.
And more than that, He came to earth in the Person of Jesus Christ who lived, died and rose again in order to make that repentance possible.
– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, April 25, 2021