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Habakkuk 1:1—2:4

The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received. How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? 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. “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. 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. 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.” Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? You have made people like the fish in the sea, like the sea creatures that have no ruler. The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy? I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness—

By: The Rev. Dr. W. Ross Blackburn

Of all that we might learn from Habakkuk, let me mention two things. First, in the midst of the corruption and injustice of his own nation, Habakkuk prays. Abortion is so removed, so hidden, in the places it is carried out and in the language we use to refer to it, that it is easy for abortion to become an “issue.” Habakkuk sees evil, and prays like many in the Bible—heartfelt and urgent and loud. Look through the Psalms, or in particular the prophet Jeremiah. “O that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people” (Jeremiah 9:1). But we don’t weep. We would rather hold a principled, informed stand on issues of life. Prophets weep.

Secondly, Habakkuk never gets the answer to his question. This is not unusual. “How long?” is a painful question that pervades the Scriptures (see, e.g., Psalm 13, 79, Job). But Habakkuk does not lose heart. Although he hears that the Lord will bring judgment, he trusts that the Lord will once again be the savior of His people. How long? He is not told. Pro-life work can feel that way—hours and days and weeks and years, and yet death persists, and little progress seems to be being made. How long will it be this way? We are not told.
As always, the righteous shall live by his faith (Hab. 2:4).