On a flight home from LAX last summer I was listening to my iPod (the only Apple device I use regularly) and the playlist made it to the album “Canticles“, a compilation by Cardiphonia, and to the song “Habakkuk’s Prayer” by Caroline Cobb. What had been background music all of a sudden made it to the foreground and I listened to it a couple of times before delving into the text to read more. Here’s the whole story.
And the Lord answered me:
“Write the vision; make it plain on tablets (and smartphones), so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. ”Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. (Habakkuk 2:2-4, 3:17-19 ESV)
Habakkuk had it rough, for more reasons than just his name. I mean, really. How many men do you know with that name? Any? You know an Isaiah, a Jeremiah or two, maybe even a Jonah or Micah, but no Habakkuk.
The vision Habakkuk was to write was one of judgement, God’s judgement, first on His people, the Israelites, who had become unfaithful, and then on the Chaldeans or Babylonians He was using to judge Israel. It was not a rosy short-term forecast.
The ESV Study Bible, in its “Introduction to Habakkuk” puts it this way:
The first two chapters are organized around Habakkuk’s prayers (or, more correctly, complaints) and the Lord’s replies. Habakkuk saw the rapid progress of Judah’s moral and spiritual deterioration and this deeply troubled him. Yet God’s response puzzled him even more, for “how could a good and just God use a more wicked nation to punish a less wicked one?” God makes it clear that both nations are to be judged and appropriately punished for their evil acts. Although Habakkuk may not fully understand, he has learned to rely totally on the wisdom and justice of God to bring about the proper resolution in ways he could never have imagined. This God is certainly worthy of Habakkuk’s praise and worship, which is how the book ends.
Our only response to this book is to rejoice, as Habakkuk did at the end, and take joy in the God of our salvation, even in the face of distress or judgement. Rejoice, knowing that the God of judgement is also the God of love and the God of faithful promise.
You can listen to the song of Habakkuk here:
