Habakkuk 1:1-11 When Life Doesn’t Make Sense: Is God Listening?
How Long?
On July 1st, 2025, an elderly man in Ankeny, IA was making phone calls to friends and family to let them know that his wife had died the previous day after an illness. While he was making these phone calls, his door bell rang. He went to the door to find Gemiere Goodwin, who announced himself as an utilities inspector.
News reports are unclear as to whether the homeowner invited Goodwin in or if Goodwin simply forced his way in; but upon entry into the home prosecutors allege Goodwin assaulted the homeowner in a “mean, brutal and violent” way and then robbed him of credit cards, money, a gun, and other possessions.
Later that day security cameras recorded Goodwin using the victim’s credit cards at a cosmetic store and when police later arrested him they found legal documents bearing the victim’s name in a safe at Goodwin’s residence. Evidence presented at Goodwin’s subsequent trial revealed that Goodwin’s sister had been working as a home health aid for the victim’s sick wife. Apparently, it was by this means that Goodwin and his mother learned the wife had died and hatched the scheme together; perhaps mistakenly believing the homeowner would be away making funeral arrangements.
The prosecutor at his trial said: "Even if he went there thinking nobody would be home, at that moment, noticing the victim was an elderly person, this defendant had every opportunity to make his way out of that home, and none of this would have happened. But his intent from start to finish, demonstrated by the evidence: He was going to get what doesn’t belong to him, and he was going to do whatever he needed to get it."
At the conclusion his trial, Goodwin was found guilty of first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, and willful injury causing serious injury. He was sentenced to up to 50 years of prison time. His mother, based on a series of text messages planning the crime, was sentenced to 35 years. His sister was not charged.
It doesn’t take much to realize we are living in trying times. Anytime you turn on the news you encounter one horrific headline after another. I found the story about the home invasion simply by typing “recent crime headlines in Iowa” into my computer. There are countlessly similar stories and much worse every week from all over the country.
In a world like this, many of us find ourselves asking a very Biblical question: “How long, O Lord?” How long will violence and tragedy persist? How long will evil people attack innocent victims? How long will the world continue to be a place where people hurt other people in the most astounding ways?
“How long?” is a biblical question God’s people have often asked in trying times, especially in the Psalms. There are at least eleven Psalms that ask God, “How long?” It’s also the question that begins the small Bible book we are going to be looking at for the next month: the book of Habakkuk.
The Questioning Prophet
Habakkuk was a prophet at a tumultuous time in Judah’s history, and he was asking some very tough questions. The book—and it’s just a short little book in a section of the Bible called the Minor Prophets—reads almost like a prayer journal. We get some of Habakkuk’s very personal, very heartfelt thoughts and questions about God—and then we get some of God’s answers.
(And by the way, I pronounce his name hab-ahh-kuk. I used to pronounce it HABBA-kuk, but at seminary it was mostly pronounced hab-ahh-kuk. I’m not really sure if there is a correct pronunciation. It’s one of those: “You say potato, I say spud” sort of deals.)
Here’s a quick outline of the book. It starts with Habakkuk asking some hard questions. He says, “God, where are you? It’s getting pretty rough down here. Aren’t you going to do something?”
Then God answers by saying, “Trust me Habakkuk. I’ve got a plan. I’ve got this.”
But then, Habakkuk takes a look at God’s plan and he says: “God, I’m not sure I like your plan all that much.”
And God answers by saying, “Trust me Habakkuk. I’ve got a plan. I know what I’m doing.”
And then, come chapter 3, Habakkuk says: “I’m not completely sure what’s going on. But I’m going to trust God.”
That’s pretty much the whole book, and that’s pretty much the point of the book as well. Even when we aren’t sure what is going on, we can trust God. That’s the message of the book: Trust God.
Walter Kaiser, a Bible commentator, summarizes the book of Habakkuk like this: “Habakkuk has much to teach us…about how, in the face of great difficulties, one can get on with the task of living now, enjoying the deep satisfaction of knowing who God is and that He is able to handle things—come what may!”
That’s where we’re aiming. We are aiming to get to the place where we can trust God—come what may.
But on the way, we’re going to have tough questions. Is God listening? Does God care? Is God in control? The questions Habakkuk wrestles with are questions we wrestle with.
Let me say something about the title for this series. Originally I was going to use the rather generic title: When Life Doesn’t Make Sense. It’s a straightforward title, and it’s what I want to talk about in this series. But I was describing the book of Habakkuk to a friend, and they said: “You should call it: ‘Are you there God? It’s me, Habakkuk.’” That’s a play on a famous book for teen girls from the ‘70s called “Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret” by Judy Blume.
I have never read the book, but I get the concept. Margaret was navigating the challenges of middle school while asking some big questions about life and faith.
Then we looked the book up and saw that the most recent printing updated the book cover by using the image of a text exchange, similar to what you have on your bulletin covers. And I really liked that. Because if you have a phone that does the three little dots that tell you the person on the other end is working on a reply, you know the feeling of tension and anticipation that comes from waiting to see what they will type.
I think that captures the book of Habakkuk pretty well. We all have questions for God, and oftentimes it feels like we are living in the space of those three little dots. Waiting for God’s reply.
So, our series title and graphic are a tip of the hat to Judy Blume’s book, but otherwise has nothing to do with the trials and tribulations of Margaret. Other than, like Habakkuk, I think we can all relate to the feeling of wondering if God is paying attention.
How Long, O Lord?
The book starts with hard questions. Habakkuk 1:1-4:
The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received.
2 How long, O Lord, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted.
Let me give you a little background on Habakkuk. He was a prophet in Judah at about the same time as the prophet Jeremiah. And the situation in Judah at that time was not good.
In fact, Judah’s deterioration had been a long time coming. It had been a slow but consistent descent into idolatry, social injustice, crime and violence.
There had been a brief flicker of hope when King Josiah took the throne. He found a copy of the law in a temple storage bin and led a revival. Pagan altars were torn down and people turned back to God. Some of you might remember that story. Josiah was a good king. But then he died, and his sons took over. And his sons were somewhat dimmer lights.
The first son made a disastrous alliance with Egypt and ended up being carried away by the Egyptians after only 3 months on the throne. The second son—Jehoiakim—was a puppet of the Egyptians and reversed all of Josiah’s social and religious policies. The prophet Jeremiah says that Jehoikim’s reign is filled with injustice, greed, murder, oppression and violence (Jer. 22:13-19).
The story of the prophet Uriah illustrates the situation pretty well. Jeremiah 22:20-23 tells the story. Uriah “prophesied the same things” that Jeremiah did. But when King Jehoikim and his officials heard his words, they were determined to put Uriah to death. So Uriah fled for his life to Egypt and the king sent a group of soldiers after him:
23 They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him struck down with a sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.
So you can probably understand Habakkuk’s concerns. He’s got the same job title as Uriah. He’s called to say some of the same sort of things. You can understand why he’s asking these questions:
“How long, O Lord?” How long is this going to go on? Destruction and violence, strife and conflict. People are preying on the elderly. Innocents are being attacked on the streets. Families are being ripped apart. And the law is paralyzed. The cops come, but they’re just as corrupt as the criminals. The King is the worst of the lot. How long is this going to go on?
Habakkuk’s is a theological question. He prays, he calls out for help, but help doesn’t seem to be coming. Is God there? Is God paying attention? As one commentator says: “A silent heaven is the greatest mystery in our existence.” (quoted by FF Bruce in The Minor Prophets, p. 844)
More than that, Habakkuk wonders: “Why do you make me look at injustice?” Here he is, a sinful and mortal man, and he’s tired of reading all the headlines. He’s sick of looking at all the terrible things people do to each other. But he’s wondering, if it bothers him so much—again, he’s a sinful and mortal man—shouldn’t it bother God even more?
Do you ever wonder about that? If we are so troubled by all the hurt and wickedness and wrong—and we’re sinful and mortal—then how much must it bother the Holy and eternal God? Isn’t God just about fed up with it all? Why doesn’t God do something?
Basically, Habakkuk is at the end of his rope. And so he asks the hard questions. He goes to God and wonders what is going on.
And I find encouragement in this. I’m glad that the Bible models these hard questions for us.
There is a sort of faith that can be pretty “pollyannish.” You know, always looking at things with rose-colored glasses and saying that if God is in control then everything is fine. As Christians, we can be so scared of making God look bad that we try to always pretend that everything is “GREAT! JUST GREAT!” even when things are not. We feel like our faith means we have to defend God from the idea that we could ever be disappointed.
But the truth is: we live in a fallen, fractured, corrupted world. We live in a world where there is hurt and pain and suffering. And sometimes none of it makes any sense. And when that happens, Habakkuk shows us that we have every right to question God. We have every right to go to God and pour out our hearts and wonder what’s going on. Not to accuse God mind you—Habakkuk never accuses God of anything—but to question Him.
We can ask the hard questions.
But here’s the thing, we might not always like the answers.
Utterly Amazing
God’s surprising answer to Habakkuk begins in verse 5:
5 “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.
This is a pretty cool sounding verse. In fact, if you just quote this verse, without paying attention to what comes before it or after it, you would think this is a verse that is really inspiring and hopeful. I punched Habakkuk 1:5 into Google and then did an image search, and I got several of those picture/verse slides like this, and this, and this. Breathtaking landscapes, inspiring fonts, lavish praise.
This is a good Coffee Mug verse. Something to put on a wall calendar. By itself, it seems like God is going to do something really, really awe-inspiring. Something utterly amazing. Something that, if I told you about it, you wouldn’t even believe. That sounds like a good thing. It’s not. Verses 6 through 11:
6 I am raising up the Babylonians,
Stop right there. The Babylonians. Are those good guys or bad guys in the Bible?
These are bad guys. Anytime the Rolling Stones name an album after your city, you know it’s bad. Babylon is the city chosen in the book of Revelation to represent all evil. The Great Whore Babylon. These are not good guys. So keep reading, God says:
6 I am raising up the Babylonians,
that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
to seize dwelling places not their own.
7 They are a feared and dreaded people;
they are a law to themselves
and promote their own honor.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like a vulture swooping to devour;
9 they all come bent on violence.
Their hordes advance like a desert wind
and gather prisoners like sand.
10 They deride kings
and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
they build earthen ramps and capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—
guilty men, whose own strength is their god.”
Habakkuk is living in a destructive and violent country. The wicked are winning, the righteous are losing. So he cries out to God: He says, “God, are you gonna do something?”
And God’s answer is: “Yeah, I’m gonna do something. I’m gonna send in the Babylonians.”
Historically speaking, the next thing to happen to Jehoiakim and the people of Judah was that Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian host invaded. Jehoiakim goes from being an Egyptian puppet to being a Babylonian puppet. Within a couple years he’s replaced by his brother Zedekiah, and within 15 years Jerusalem is besieged and stormed, Solomon’s temple is destroyed, and the better part of the population is carried away into exile.
The ruthless and impetuous Babylonians, feared and dreaded, swoop in like vultures and gather prisoners like sand. They scoff at rulers and laugh at Jerusalem’s walls. Like a desert wind scouring the countryside clean, they roll up the Judeans and go on.
God’s answer to the wickedness of Judah is to send in an even more wicked people. His response to Habakkuk’s call for justice is to bring judgment in the form of defeat and exile.
And that’s where this section of scripture ends. Next week we’ll see that Habakkuk responds to this declaration of God with another complaint. He’s not so sure the cure isn’t worse than the disease. He wonders that God would choose to clean things up with a dirty broom. We’ll ponder that next week.
But for now, I just want us to reflect on the way God answers Habakkuk’s first complaint. Essentially, He says to Habakkuk: “I’m God, and you’re not.” That’s what He’s saying here. “I’m God, and you’re not.”
He’s saying: “I don’t mind your questions, Habakkuk, but you might not like my answers. I have a plan, I’m going to deal with the wickedness, but it’s not necessarily going to go the way you want. You’re going to have to trust me.”
God doesn’t need to be defended. He doesn’t defend Himself. He says, “This is what I’m going to do. I’m God, and this is how things are going to go. And that’s all you need to know.”
The Key Verse
Like I said, we’re not necessarily going to get the answers we want to all of our questions. Maybe it wasn’t even right for me to start with a story of violence in Iowa. I don’t mean to imply that I’m going to make sense out of all of that. It’s just, the kind of questions crime and abuse make us ask about God are exactly the kind of questions Habakkuk was asking.
And God’s answer is “Trust me. You have to trust me.” It’s all a matter of trust.
In fact, what I’d like to do now is jump ahead to the key verse in all of Habakkuk. Actually, this is a key verse in the Bible. It’s a verse that some 600 years later the Apostle Paul is going to quote often as the key to understanding salvation. It’s a verse that is going to lead Martin Luther to light the match that sparks the entire Reformation. It’s Habakkuk 2:4:
“See, he is puffed up;
his desires are not upright—
but the righteous will live by his faith.”
Basically, God is saying (and this is another section of the book where God is portrayed as the speaker) God is saying there are two kinds of people in the world. There are those who trust themselves, and those who trust God. Those are your choices. You can trust in yourself, or you can trust in God.
The “puffed up” are those who trust in themselves.They are the proud. The arrogant. They are the ones who think they have things all figured out. The ones who feel they can dictate to God. They think they could do a better job of running the universe than God can. These are people who rely on their own strength, their own power, their own ability and intelligence. As verse 11 said about the Babylonians, “their own strength is their god.”
But for these people, when the bad times come, when things happen that are beyond their control, the best they can do is wait them out. Because they dismiss God, then they have no hope that there is any sense in their suffering. They have no reason to believe there is any meaning in their pain. In the end, the life of the proud ends in despair.
But those who put their faith in God have a different kind of hope. Even when life doesn’t make sense to us, there is hope that there is at least One who understands what is going on. Those who trust in God have reason to believe He has superior wisdom to us, and that He has a plan that can redeem even the worst of our experiences.
Pastor David Mathis writes:
This is a powerful promise for us today in our trying times. As we ponder the [feeling] that our world [is] unraveling into chaos…we can preach to our souls, “The righteous by faith shall live.” When trials come, there is a great divide: those who are puffed up and raise their fist at God, and then those who fall to their knees in humility and trust and walk by faith when it’s more than they can understand. https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/will-we-keep-singing
In John Bunyan’s classic book Pilgrim’s Progress there comes a point where the main character’s son—Matthew—is being questioned about his faith. He’s asked what he does when he comes to a part of the Bible that he doesn’t understand. Matthew’s answer is perfect. He says: “I think that God is wiser than I.”
That answer is equally appropriate when we are confronted with events in life that we can’t make sense of. “I think that God is wiser than I.” Such an attitude of trust expresses the believer’s humble confidence that God—in the words of the Heidelberg Catechism—“will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends me in this sad world, for he is able to do this because he is almighty God, and he desires to do this because he is a faithful father.” (HC a 26, quoted by Bast in Why Doesn’t God Act More Like God?, p. 17)
What other choice do we have? Be puffed up and trust in ourselves, and believe in a world that ultimately has no meaning? Or trust in God and live by faith?
Soar!
Here’s where we are so far in Habkkuk’s story: things are bad, there is violence and chaos all around. And God is going to act, but things are only going to get worse. The fallenness of Judah is going to be met by the wickedness of Babylon. God’s going to clean house, but He’s going to use a dirty broom.
And the question for Habakkuk and the rest of God’s people is: can they continue to trust in the midst of the chaos? They’re living in the three dots. So are we. Can we live by faith even while we’re waiting for the full answer? Mathis writes:
For God’s people — for those who are righteous by faith — hardship is not the end of the story. It never ends in pain for the people of God. It never ends in darkness. It never ends in trouble. Devastation never has the last word. Our story doesn’t end with Good Friday. The grave is not the end. Sunday is coming.
Six hundred years before Christ, God gave Habakkuk a glimpse into the truth he would make so plain on a bloody cross and with an empty tomb: when times are darkest, God is ready to shine his brightest.
The question is, can we hold on in the midst of the darkness? Can we hold onto hope even in the waiting?
To close, I want to take you out of Habakkuk to the book of Isaiah. I love the whole Bible, but if you pressed me, I’d probably tell you this is my favorite Bible verse. Isaiah 40:31:
But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Here’s why this is my favorite verse. I heard a preacher describe eagles once. I don’t know if what he said was true or not, I’m not an expert on birds and as far as I know, neither was he. But what he had to say painted such a wonderful picture of the word “hope”—and what I think Isaiah was getting at here—that I just have to share it with you.
He said that the eagles that live in the mountains—the great eagles who make their nests on rocky crags high above deep valleys—don’t have much by way of chest muscles. That is, they don’t have a lot of strength in here—in the muscles that they would use to flap their massive wings. And so, these giant birds are not very well suited for getting airborne from the ground, they just don’t have the strength.
What they do, then, is they go to the edge of their rocky ledge…and they fall. They allow themselves to drop off their mountainous peak and then they unfurl their great wings and—like a hang glider riding a thermal updraft—they soar. They fly by putting all of their trust in the next current of wind.
And, I think, that’s what Isaiah is calling us to do when he invites us to hope. That’s what Habakkuk means when he tells us to live by faith. They are encouraging us to put all our faith, all our trust, in the Lord. To walk to the edge and just take the plunge into His arms. To put all our weight, all our expectations, all our plans and hopes and dreams, at His control.
Because when we hope like that, we will soar.
My call for you this morning is to Soar! Soar! Even when it doesn’t feel like it, God is in control. He has a plan for this world. He may not explain why He is doing what He is doing, and He may not do things the way you expect. But He is God!
We are faced with a lot of questions. And we have a choice: we can trust in ourselves, or we can trust in God. I pray that Trinity Church can be a community of people who are willing to continue to take the leap of faith in God.
