Habakkuk is a small book of only three chapters, probably written between 612 and 605 BC. However, according to the late James M. Boice, it is “eminently contemporary.” It is not difficult to see numerous parallels between Judah’s moral condition and America’s present moral state.
In this short book, the prophet, whom we know extremely little about, shares about the moral and spiritual decay in Judah as well as revealing his own heart-wrenching desire for revival in the land.
The Assyrians had captured Israel, the northern Jewish kingdom of 10 tribes, in 722 BC. Many years later, Babylon defeated Assyria and pushed back Egypt. As they moved toward the southern kingdom of Judah, the nation was on the precipice of destruction. The prophet cried out to God, conversed with God, and listened to God. God told Habakkuk that He was sending judgment against His disobedient people through the ravaging heathen nation of Babylon. While the prophet did not want to hear this, he moved from a place of frustration to rejoicing during the course of these three chapters.
In Habakkuk 1:2, the prophet pleaded with God: “How long?” Judah was filled with apostasy, immorality, idolatry, corruption, crooked courts, political conflict and inept leadership. The reforms of Josiah were gone, and the evil of King Jehoiakim had plunged the nation further along the path of destruction. When Habakkuk asks “How long?” he is actually accusing God of not hearing, not helping, or even not caring. A similar reaction occurs in Mark 4:38, where we read of a fierce storm that caught the disciples on the Lake of Galilee. Jesus was asleep in the stern of the boat when his disciples awoke Him and asked: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Jesus calmed the storm and asked His disciples why they had no faith. God always cares, but He does not always answer our prayers the way we would like.
During the time of Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Nahum and Jeremiah, the Law of God was not obeyed. In fact, Jeremiah’s scroll, containing a prophecy given to him by God, was burned by the king (Jeremiah 36). Without adherence to the Law, the courts became crooked, as many forms of evil dominated the society. The true people of God were often intimidated and persecuted. The nation of Judah was in a terribly backslidden state and had little to no interest in God and His truth. The people had repeatedly scorned and rejected prophet after prophet.
In verses 5-10, God announced to Habakkuk that He was not sending revival but judgment, and that the carriers of His judgment would be the Babylonians (Chaldeans). They were strong, destructive, godless, violent, lawless, proud, selfish, and hungry for power and conquest. They held in contempt foreign kings and governments. Habakkuk was shocked by this news. He could not grasp how God would use such a wicked and ungodly nation to discipline His own people.
Since God is sovereign, He can use anything from donkeys to pagan nations to accomplish His purposes. In verse 11, it is clear that while God would use the Babylonians, they would not go unpunished for their ungodly ways.
Judah needed new leadership, but they needed something far more important: They needed changed hearts. Warren Wiersbe has stated: “You don’t change the problems just by changing the people in office. The heart of every problem is the problem of the heart, and until the heart is changed by grace, the society will not change at all.”
As we examine the state of our country in this election year, it is sobering to realize that changed hearts are what will make a real and lasting difference in the life of our nation. We should certainly cast a prayerful vote in the November elections, but we should also have a spirit like Habakkuk that prayerfully seeks a movement of God in our land. But, like God’s message to Habakkuk, judgment may be what we get. If we do, we can know we deserve it.
Whatever happens, the God of Habakkuk is our God, also. He is our focus, our hope and our strength, regardless of the circumstances. He has also given us a great promise in Hebrews 13:6: “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.” It may be cliché, yet it’s true — we cannot know the future, but we can know the God who holds the future.