The prophet Habakkuk asked an age-old question, one every thoughtful person who believes in God struggles with at times:

How long, Lord, must I cry for help, but you do not listen?

The book of Job, considered the oldest in the Bible, wrestles with the same problem, a God of distance and disappearing. Remarkably, Habakkuk is not condemned for his questioning. The Lord answers his complaints, but with the news of impending disaster.

Even so, Habakkuk moved toward the Lord rather than away. As he waited for a Babylonian invasion he expressed both fear and faith:

I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The answer to Habakkuk’s question was not deliverance but devastation. Habakkuk lived roughly 600 years before Jesus. No news of a Savior reached his ears, yet he cultivated an amazingly defiant faith. I also ask how long, Lord? Like all who call without a response, it requires prayer, reflection and determination to hold on while I wait.

Habakkuk in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Spencer DeMera