In a Tight Spot
We all know what it is to be in a tight spot (vv 2-4). In Habakkuk’s case it was a paralysis of Torah, or a breakdown of law and order. Words like violence, destruction and contention still ring bells. Right and wrong seem to have changed their meaning. Those who are in a position to get things back on course seem either unable or unwilling to the point where even the judicial system comes under suspicion. Turning to God as a last hope offers no more satisfaction. So there he sits, trapped and powerless. Only one step more and, like a rat in a corner, he feels he too could become violent.
If we accept the traditional dating Habakkuk was living in the aftermath of Josiah, a good king who reigned for 40 years and whose successor could not hold a candle to him. Habakkuk can remember that it was not always like this, so his question is, ‘what went wrong, and why?’
Your ‘tight spot’ may be different in detail. The Health Service, education or the environment, perhaps rather than law and order, or possibly something much nearer home. But you know how he feels. Try to sit where he sits, to capture his vision and hear God’s word (vv 5-11). For Habakkuk, three things emerge.
One, the command to ‘look’ and ‘see’ is an invitation to get a grip on himself and keep things in perspective. Perhaps he is getting carried away. Rose-coloured spectacles. He should not believe everything he reads or hears. He needs a more objective look and a sharper assessment of the situation.
Two, in common with other prophets, he might consider that the hand of God is actually at work in other ways, even in those he sees as the cause of the problem (in his case the foreign invaders). Fear and anxiety may actually be preventing him from spotting the very thing he most needs — the realisation that God is in there with them and with him, at the heart of the problem, similarly frustrated but not necessarily doing what Habakkuk expects or wants.
Three, Habakkuk needs to understand that maybe there are some things even God cannot do, not at least within Habakkuk’s timescale.