“The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ and You will not save.”
Habakkuk 1:1–2

The prophet Habakkuk was a contemporary of Nahum, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah. This book begins with the burden that he saw. The word burden is used in several different ways in the Old Testament. It can refer to a weight, a heavy load, or a responsibility to be carried. Here, the word is used in the context of an oracle or prophecy that unfolds in judgment against the nation of Judah, which had continually ignored the calls to repentance and refused to turn from its sinful ways. Habakkuk saw the deterioration of the kingdom under the reign of Jehoiakim and watched all of Josiah’s reforms be forgotten.

In the opening verses of this book, we hear the heart of Habakkuk as he pours it out in the presence of the Lord (1:1–4). He is surrounded by violence, injustice, wrongdoing, destruction, wickedness, strife, conflict, and justice that has been perverted! Habakkuk cries out to God, “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but You do not listen? Or cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ but You do not save?” (Habakkuk 1:2). The word cry is used twice in verse 2. The first refers to calling out for help, but the second means to scream with a loud voice. His heart was intensely concerned about what was going on in the nation.

In verse 4 we read, “Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore, perverse judgment proceeds.” The nation’s leaders would not obey the law, and therefore the warnings of Scripture went unheeded. Doesn’t this sound familiar? In many ways, the heart of man is the same. It would be good for us to consider the counsel the Lord gave Habakkuk, for there are several lessons that apply to our day.

Habakkuk means “to embrace,” and we see him coming to grips with some serious problems and laying hold of God by faith when everything in his life seems to be falling apart. In verses 5–6, the Lord tells him to be prepared to be astonished because He was going to do a work that Habakkuk would not believe. We must be patient and remember that “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9).

Anchor For Today:
“God’s ways are sometimes behind the scenes, but He moves all the scenes which He is behind” J. N. Darby