With all the injustice and evil going on seemingly unchecked around us, many of us think to ourselves, God, don’t You see what’s going on? Why don’t You do something? Most of us, though, are too afraid to actually speak these thoughts to God. But not Habakkuk. He boldly brought these questions to God, and God answered, though not necessarily as Habakkuk was expecting.
Habakkuk was a prophet in Judah. We know almost nothing about Habakkuk except that, based on his prophecy, he must have lived just before the Babylonians attacked Judah and sent the people into exile. But what we do know is that he was very troubled by the wickedness going on around him, and it made him wonder whether God really cared and why He did not seem to be doing anything about it.
God answered Habakkuk’s questions by assuring him that He was already raising up the Babylonians to punish the wickedness going on around him in Judah. The problem was that the Babylonians seemed even more evil than the people of Judah, according to Habakkuk—so he brought this concern to God, too.
God answered Habakkuk’s second question by assuring him that one day He would punish those who have oppressed others. Habakkuk responded with a song of praise for God’s mercy and salvation.
When we experience pain and suffering, we may wonder why God doesn’t seem to be doing anything to help us. Like Habakkuk, we should bring those questions directly to God and trust Him to answer. Otherwise we will likely breed resentment and more doubt. God does care for His people (Matthew 6:25–34, 10:29–31), and we can trust that He is always working for our good (Romans 8:28–29).