Introducing Habakkuk: From “O Lord, How Long?” to “I Will Rejoice”

Among the twelve Minor Prophets in the Old Testament is the book of the prophet Habakkuk. His book is not “Minor” because it is unimportant; it is “Minor” because, as many modern readers will appreciate, it has only three brief chapters, which take about ten minutes to read—that is, if it doesn’t make you stop to think! When it comes to obscure Old Testament books with funny names, we may be tempted to say the circumstances are so distant in time and space that they will have very little relevance to us. The truth, though, is that we are far closer than we realize when it comes to thinking about the moral and the spiritual conditions of the people of God as Habakkuk describes them. Few who have paid any attention to our modern world will not resonate with the prophet’s opening words: O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth.For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. (Hab. 1:2–4) Those of us who are tr...