The Lord's Response

God’s Purpose

Habakkuk 1:5 NIV

“Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.

Habakkuk saw the injustice, violence and brokenness occurring amonst his people around him. He turns to the Lord seeking for the Lord to respond in justice and righteousness.

God responds to Habakkuk’s cry by pointing Habakkuk’s sight to who God is. God is the Lord over all creation. God has a central purpose that He has been fulfilling since the beginning of creation. God has always had great zeal for His own glory. We see this in the writings of the other prophets

Isaiah 48:9–11 NIV

For my own name’s sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to destroy you completely. See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.

God is focused on pointing all of creation to His glory because when we grasp a glimpse of the wonder, might, majesty and power of the Lord, our very souls come to see what is possible with God alone. Many of our struggles with recognizing and knowing the Lord comes from our own deception that we do not need the Lord.

God’s plan for our lives is so much bigger than our own scope. We are so stuck in only being able to focus on our immediate circumstances. God is not limited to this. God sees all things working out and He controls all of these individual moving pieces until His perfect plan unfolds without fail.

God’s Plan

Habakkuk 1:6–7 NIV

I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own. They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.

God’s plan to address the injustice, sin, violence and brokenness of the Israelites was to raise up an enemy against the people of Israel. Throughout Israel’s history, God has used their enemies for their own good and maturity. As God reminds us of how limited and finite we are, our focus shifts back to proper perspective, seeing the Lord and relying upon Him.

Seeing Beyond Our Circumstances

Habakkuk 1:8–11 NIV

Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping to devour; they all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them. Then they sweep past like the wind and go on— guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”

God recognizes the differences between Israel’s aim and His own. So the Lord’s judgment is to give His people over to the very thing that they themselves were desiring. He gave them over to the nation that desired only to promote themselves. He gave them over to the nation of military might. He gave them over to the nation who relied on their own strength.