Habakkuk’s Questioning Prophecy

“One of Jeremiah’s contemporaries, Habakkuk, poses the profound theological question which must nag at anyone who is seriously listening to the prophets.  The question is this:  How can a righteous and holy God use a wicked nation like Babylonia to bring punishment against God’s own people, rebellious and sinful though they may be?  And the question stretches beyond even the present conflicts to other related issues.  How can God permit the wicked to prosper, often at the expense of the righteous?  How can a righteous God permit evil to exist at all?

Although God does not provide all the answers in his dialogue with Habakkuk, he does address the central question.  His answer is that evil, wherever it is found, always bears within it the seeds of its own destruction.  The enemy may be a righteous or a wicked nation – it matters not.  But if the oppressors themselves are evil then they too will face their own destruction.  Only in righteousness is there life; sin always brings death.”

Read:  Habakkuk chapters 1 & 2

“Satisfied with God’s answer, Habakkuk writes a psalm of praise in which he says he will wait patiently for the vengeance of God to punish Judah’s wicked oppressors.”

Read:  Habakkuk 3

All quotations taken from The Daily Bible.