Habakkuk deals with the issue of theodicy and attempts to answer the question: “how can God be good and just when evil seems to run rampant?” But the book of Habakkuk also helps us pray even when we feel as though God is silent on the other end.
Here are seven reasons how:
1) God is always doing a million things all the time that we cannot understand.
“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told” (Hab 1:5).
In response to Habakkuk’s complaint God reminds him that he is at work; I am God and you are not. We need that type of reminder in heartbreak and in trial: God is God, we are not.
2) God raises up and tears down whatever he desires.
“For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own” (Hab. 1:6).
The wicked nation of Babylon is at the disposal of God. It is a pawn in his divine plan; he holds powerful nations in the palm of his hand. Evil is not outside of God’s view or power.
3) God will deliver on his promises in his perfect timing.
“Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, 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” (Hab. 2:2-3).
What God says is true and trustworthy. Write it in a tablet; set it in stone. It will come to pass and you can bank your life on it. This vision that God reveals will surely come to pass, and it is likewise true of all the Words of God in the Bible.
God sovereignly dictates time and wields it for his pleasure. If it seems slow, wait for it. It will not delay. Why does he say it won’t delay and yet it seems slow? That seems like it is delayed. Answer: nothing will not happen exactly when God wants it to happen, or stated positively: All things happen exactly when God says they will.
4) The righteous shall live by God’s faithfulness.
“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith” (Hab. 2:4).
This is a difficult verse that commentators wrestle over, but this is what I think it means. The righteous, as opposed to those who are puffed up, will live by God’s faithfulness to his covenant and by a heartfelt response of faith. This is cited in Romans 1:17, Gal 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38, and in Paul’s usage it clearly points to the importance of faith in being right with God.
5) The wicked will rightly be judged by God.
“I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us” (Hab. 3:16).
Notice the various “woes to the Chaldeans” from 2:6-20. Habakkuk seems to see a vision of what God will accomplish in chapter 3 and he says “O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear” (Hab. 3:2).
6) God’s will will be accomplished.
“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14).
Good will triumph over evil in the end, and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. God’s glory will be as pervasive as light and air.
7) God will make his children surefooted to rejoice in him even in spite of the circumstances.
“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” (Hab. 3:17-19).
How does God make us surefooted so we rejoice? He does it in the cross of Christ. In the blazing center we see wrath and justice poured out in love for the sake of his elect. Therefore to answer the question of “how can God be good and just when evil seems to abound?” is answered at the cross. Evil abounded greatly in the crucifixion of his Son, and yet it was the ultimate display of God’s goodness and justice.