Waiting Before the Lord
During the rise of the Babylonian Empire, God sent the prophet Habakkuk to Judah with warnings of coming judgment. Babylon was becoming a dominant world power, and the days of Judah were numbered. God’s covenant people had given themselves over to greed, injustice, violence, and immorality. The law was being neglected, justice was perverted, and wickedness was spreading throughout the land.
In the midst of these dark days, Habakkuk cried out to God. Unlike many prophets who proclaimed, “Hear the word of the LORD,” Habakkuk approached God with a burdened heart and a troubled question, “How long, O LORD, will I call for help, and You will not hear? I cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ yet You do not save. Why do You make me see iniquity, and cause me to look on wickedness?”
The Lord graciously answered His prophet, “Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days—you would not believe if you were told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldean.” God revealed that He would use the Babylonians as an instrument of judgment against Judah. Though Habakkuk struggled to understand how a holy God could use such a wicked nation to accomplish His purposes, he ultimately rested in the character of God. Therefore, he confessed, “Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O LORD, have appointed them to judge; and You, O Rock, have established them to correct.”
In 586 BC, under the sovereign hand of God, Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon. The Babylonians became an instrument in the hand of the Lord to discipline His covenant people and call them to repentance. Yet long before these events, God had already declared His purposes concerning Judah. As Jacob prepared to die, he gathered his sons and prophesied concerning their future. Speaking to Judah, he declared, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to Him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”
Even amid judgment, God’s promise remained secure. The coming Messiah would arise from the tribe of Judah. Though kingdoms would rise and fall, God’s covenant purposes could not fail. Therefore, after wrestling with difficult questions and contemplating the coming judgment, Habakkuk rested not in his own understanding but in the sovereignty of God. With reverent fear he declared, “But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.”
Habakkuk knew that God still reigned from heaven. The Lord had not lost control. His throne remained occupied. His purposes remained certain. Though the prophet did not understand every detail of God’s plan, he trusted the God who cannot lie and whose wisdom is perfect. He chose to wait, to pray, and to watch the sovereign hand of God accomplish His will in Judah’s darkest hour.
The circumstances of our own generation are not unlike those of Habakkuk’s day. We are witnessing an increasing departure from the truth of God’s Word. Marriage is continually attacked and redefined. Family structures are weakened. Violence fills our communities. Sexual immorality is celebrated and spread through every form of media. Many wander without purpose, seeking meaning apart from God. Justice is often distorted, truth is exchanged for error, and the authority of Scripture is openly rejected.
When a society abandons God’s truth and exalts human reasoning above divine revelation, moral decay inevitably follows. Men begin to do what is right in their own eyes, pursuing the lusts of the flesh and seeking to satisfy sinful desires at any cost. Having rejected the truth of God, they are given over to a depraved mind, calling evil good and good evil, while walking further and further into spiritual darkness.
Yet those who are in Christ Jesus must not lose heart, but stand firm in the faith. God will not be mocked, nor can anything thwart the purposes He ordained before the foundation of the world. Though the days may be dark and many have become lovers of self rather than lovers of God, cast yourselves wholly upon the mercy of Christ. The Lord has not abandoned His throne, nor has He forgotten His people. His promises remain certain, and every blessing He has purposed for His children shall come to pass. What we have not yet received is just as sure as that which we have already obtained, for the Word of God cannot fail. Therefore, let us wait upon the Lord with confidence, knowing that He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion in the day of Christ Jesus.
Therefore, let us wait patiently before the Lord. Let us trust Him when His providence is difficult to understand. Let us rest in His sovereign rule. For “the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.”
silent before Him.”
Habakkuk 2:20