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(Part 5 in a series of posts on Habakkuk.)
Habakkuk 1:2-4
Habakkuk was a prophet who struggled with questions about evil in the world and why God permits evil. Habakkuk’s three big questions were: “Does God care? Is God fair? Is God there?” People are still asking the same questions today. The book of Habakkuk traces the prophet’s journey from doubt to faith as he brought his complaints to God and found satisfying answers to his questions.
Habakkuk 1:2-11 deals with the first of these questions: Does God care? We will just look at verses 2-4 today.
Habakkuk 1:2-4 - 2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 herefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. (NIV)
“Does God care?” It is a question that has haunted countless persons over the ages as they have grappled with the problem of evil in the world. “If God is all powerful, then why does he allow evil and suffering? Is God concerned about us? Does he notice all the troubles that take place on our planet? Does God care?” If you have ever asked questions similar to these, then you are not alone. Habakkuk struggled with the same questions and doubts, and he was a prophet!
Last time we looked at verse 1 where Habakkuk said that he received this book as an oracle from the Lord. Verses 2-11 form the first section of the oracle. And this first section breaks into two parts. In verses 2-4 Habakkuk brings his complaint before the Lord. And in verses 5-11 God answers Habakkuk’s complaint. And once again, if we were to sum up Habakkuk’s complaint in this first section, it all comes down to the single question, “Does God care?”
Why do we sometimes think that God does not care? (verses 2-4)
1) We pray but do not see God’s answer right away.
Why do we sometimes think that God does not care? One reason is when we pray but do not see God’s answer right away. At the beginning of verse 2, Habakkuk cries out to God: “How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” (Habakkuk 1:2a) Apparently Habakkuk had been praying to God for quite some time, but he did not see any answer coming. He began to wonder if God was even listening.
Do you ever wonder if God is listening when you pray? Have you ever prayed for something, I mean really prayed, and then when the answer didn’t come, you questioned whether God even heard you at all? When God does not answer our prayers right away, we sometimes think that God does not care.
2) We are in trouble and God does not deliver us right away.
Another reason why we sometimes think God does not care is when we are in trouble, and God does not deliver us right away. Habakkuk continues his “how long” prayer in the second half of verse 2. “How long, O LORD, must I . . . cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?” (Habakkuk 1:2b) The particular word for violence here also carries the idea of injustice and cruelty. This is not violence as in a violent sport, but violence in a sinful context, where one person wrongfully does violence to another.
One of the most difficult things to deal with in life is when someone harms you unjustly and intentionally. A violent injustice is harder to handle than accidental injury or pain because there is the additional affront to your dignity. This was Habakkuk’s situation. And so he cried out, “How long, Lord, how long?” You can just hear the pain and desperation in his cry.
Have you ever prayed a “how long” prayer? “How long, O Lord, until I finally find a job? How long until I get better? How long until my marriage improves? How long until my loved ones come to Christ? How long until this burden is lifted from me?” We go through many trials in this life. And when we are in trouble and God does not deliver us right away, we sometimes think that God does not care.
3) We see the wicked triumphing over the righteous.
Another reason why we sometimes think God does not care is when we see the wicked triumphing over the righteous. In verses 3-4, Habakkuk goes from asking God “How long?” to asking God “Why?” “Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.” (Habakkuk 1:3-4)
Habakkuk was writing at a time when the people of Judah had almost completely abandoned their loyalty to God and God’s laws. Habakkuk was surrounded by violence, destruction, conflict and strife. He could not look to the leaders of the nation for help because the leaders were equally corrupt.
The law was virtually paralyzed in this situation, and justice hardly if ever prevailed. The wicked not only outnumbered the righteous. They surrounded the righteous few, hemming them in, cutting them off, twisting and distorting justice until justice was no longer recognizable. And so Habakkuk cried out, “Why? Why do make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Lord, don’t you care?”
Do you ever ask God the “Why?” questions? Do you ever wonder why God allows evil in the world? Do you ever wonder why people who have no concern for God and his laws seem to prosper and get ahead? Meanwhile, you are doing your best to serve God, and you feel like you are falling behind. And you begin to wonder if it is all worth it. Does God really care? These are some of the same questions Habakkuk was struggling with at the beginning of his journey from doubt to faith.
(Looking ahead: Next time we will look at God’s answer to Habakkuk’s question in verses 5-11.)
Here are the links to the whole Blogging with Habakkuk series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25.
When I experience evil, for me it is a challenge, because Jesus told us to walk away from evil, lest we get entangled in further confusion. So, right now, cities all over the world suffer from massive violence, and in a way all we can do is retreat and live in a smaller town that is more serene and away from inner city evils. Ultimately, our walk with God is one of faith, and we cannot know God’s ultimate reasons for permitting evil. And even to have faith, we must ask for that in humble prayer. I believe God cares, but in the difficult times, it is faith alone that gets us through, and even that is a gift of the Almighty.
Keith -
It is very difficult understanding why God permits evil at times. I agree that we must walk by faith, trusting that God will bring good even out of evil.
In the meantime, although we should certainly flee from temptation, I don’t think we can truly run away from evil in the world. When Jesus prayed for his disciples in John 17, he said, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” (John 17:15) Sometimes we must stay and confront evil rather than walk away and retreat, asking for God’s protection all the while.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.
This is really a thought provoking question, because it is our expectation that as we call upon the Name of the Lord in difficult situation we expect God to hear us and delivers us without delay after all did He promise in Psalms 50:15 “Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” that poses a question why then does He delay in bring this sought after deliverance? I believe God’s timing is not our timing as I read in Genesis 15:13-16 God is telling Abraham that his seed will be afflicted 400 years and in fourth generation they will come again hither again: for the iniquinity of Amorites is not full, as much as the Israelites would have loved to be delivered there and then, God is minding about the Amorites giving them chance to come to repentance I believe before He passes judgement on them, so this scenario teaches me that inspite of what we are going through God cares and He has surrounded us with songs of deliverance (Psalms 32:7) unfortunatelly we cannot hear these songs because of the troubles that have engulfed us. God really cares it takes faith to know this. Even myself I have in numerous occassion asked this very question does God cares, how many times must I prayer before He answers me? At the moment I have a car in the garage since January this year.Thieves came to my house meant to steal the car by hot starting it and in the process they messed up the engine. I don’t have money to pay for the repairs at the moment and the garage owners is asking for his space since this car has been there since January up until now and I really don’t have a clue as to how I am going to get the amount of money his is asking for to get it out except to trust in God to perform a miracle in my life I have been taking this to God in prayer but up until now no answer is forthcoming. God really cares inspite of this. Remain blessed pastor Ray Fowler