Habakkuk 1:1  The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
2  O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!
3  Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.
4  Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

In verse 1 of this short book we are told who the writer was. Habakkuk prophesied during the reign of Josiah. He lived in Judah and prophesied against Judah. God, of course is the Author of this book. It is the Word of God. Habakkuk saw the evil that Judah was involved in. He was directed to ask the question of how long God would tolerate the sins of Judah.
Thus in verse 2 he addressed the LORD. Often we find the Old Testament writers directed to refer to God as LORD. That name refers to God as Jehovah God. He is the self-existent God who provides for man’s needs, but does not need man to provide for Him. God is not like man. He never seeks counsel from man. We cannot fully understand His nature. We, especially those who are saved, must trust Him and submit to Him. We gain nothing in trying to fight against God. He is always right and He will always do what is right.
Habakkuk was told to prophesy against the sins of Judah. He was a contemporary of Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s writing was much larger than that of Habakkuk. As mentioned he prophesied against Judah during Josiah’s reign. Judah would begin to fall apart in great detail after his death. God had warned that judgment was coming but He promised to withhold judgment during the time of Josiah, because he had been repentant and had enacted some needed reforms. The problem was that the hearts of the people were not broken. There was no genuine repentance.
Habakkuk was confused at why God was not addressing the violence being enacted in Judah by wicked people. Why was God not taking them out of the way? He may not have been aware of God’s promise to Josiah. He did not understand God’s design in giving man freewill. God loves man and wants man to repent and trust in Him. He does not just speak of His love. He demonstrates His love. Habakkuk did not have the patience of God.
In verse 3 we read that God had been showing Habakkuk the big picture. He was shown the iniquity of the Jews. Habakkuk was directed to use different descriptive words to describe this sin. He wanted to know why God was showing him this sin, but yet God was not acting on it. Habakkuk had a case of short-sightedness. He could not understand the love and mercy of the LORD.
God never tolerates sin. He is not a compromiser either. What Habakkuk did not understand was the longsuffering of the LORD.
God was not blessing Judah at this time. They were busy, but in the wrong way. Most people use a form of ‘situational ethics’. Many may never have heard the term, but they operate under that standard. Situational ethics looks at the situation and if things seem to work out well, then it must be good. Those who are religiously minded will even credit God with the “good” results. Rather than take God’s Word as their authority, they edit God’s Word to fit their situation. What is lacking is the fear of the LORD. The fear of the LORD motivates the true child of God to understand that we do not live by our circumstances. We live by God’s Word. We are saved by placing our faith in the true God. We then study God’s Word and follow that Word with the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost, Who is the third person of the Godhead, will never lead a child of God into sin.
The nation of Judah had defied God for a long time now. Josiah brought in good reforms, which were in accordance with God’s Word. As mentioned, the hearts of the people were not in those reforms. As the king, Josiah had set the right standard. The people did not appreciate that right standard and during the reign of His son Jehoiakim, things fell back again. Jehoiakim chose not to believe in God and God was finished with waiting. He sent the Babylonians in to severely spank Judah.
In verse 4 we see that Habakkuk drew the conclusion that God was slack in enacting His law. He did not know why and he could not understand why God was ‘overlooking’ the sin.
Habakkuk did not understand the longsuffering of the LORD. God was not ignoring anything. He was not overlooking anything. He did not have a blind eye to the sins of those who should have known better.
Habakkuk complained that the wicked had the upper hand in Judah. The sin was going on in an unchecked manner, at least so Habakkuk thought. Habakkuk assumed that the wicked were surrounding the righteous and the righteous had no recourse against this.
Habakkuk assumed that wrong judgments were being made because the LORD was not acting. Habakkuk had been called by God to be a prophet to Judah. The work of God’s prophets was to declare: “thus saith the LORD.” Oftentimes, the people shrugged off the Word of the LORD.
That is still the case today. Preachers are called to proclaim “thus saith the LORD”. We are not called to twist the Word of God to make it palatable to those who do not want to follow Him. We will often be rejected if we speak the truth. We need to remember that if people reject us it is because they first rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.
In our text, Habakkuk would learn the importance of trusting the LORD regardless of whether things were going the way he assumed they should. God’s Word is powerful. Man will be accountable according to what God says. It does not matter whether they believe it or not. They will answer to what God has declared. The wise person submits to God’s Word and serves Him faithfully. Godly people do not want to see others going to hell. They want to see people turn to God and be saved. They want to help the saved to walk in the fear of the LORD. Habakkuk was called to proclaim the truth, not to complain about God’s dealings with man. He would learn that in this short book.
Pastor Bartel