“Violence!” The prophet’s cry echoes our own. We pray, but it seems heaven is silent. Aid does not come. Evil flourishes, and holiness is mocked. The righteous suffer while the wicked prosper. Why does God allow such injustice?
Rabbi David Altschuler, in his Metzudat David on Habakkuk 1:4, explains, “Because judgment is not executed speedily, the law becomes slack, and the righteous are ensnared. Justice is perverted when delayed.” This delay in justice stirs deep anguish within those who long for righteousness. John Calvin, in Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets (Vol. 4), shares a similar lament:
“There is indeed nothing which ought to cause us more grief than to see men raging with profane contempt for God… When therefore such a confusion appears to us, we must feel roused, if we have in us any spark of religion.”
And yet, even in this pain, we are drawn closer to the Holy One. The problem of evil is not just a philosophical question—it’s a mirror. In seeing the evil around us, we’re forced to confront the sin within us. Charles Spurgeon, in his sermon The Sight of Iniquity (1858), said,
“One of the surest ways in the world to put down all our self-sufficiency... is for God the Holy Spirit to show us our own depravity.”
Habakkuk’s message is unsettling: God will raise up an even more wicked nation to bring judgment. These conquerors are proud, lawless, and brutal—yet they are instruments in God's hand. Evil punishes evil. The oppressors become the oppressed. The prophet is horrified. “Why do You tolerate the treacherous?” he asks.
Still, the prophet waits. “I will stand at my watch,” Habakkuk says, longing to see how the Lord will respond. God is holy—His eyes are too pure to look on evil without response. And yet, in His patience, He delays judgment. But delay is not denial. The vision awaits an appointed time. “The just shall live by faith.”
Spurgeon, in his sermon Watching to See (1882), reminds us:
“We cannot teach others aright unless we are ourselves taught of God... His truest servants are those who continue waiting upon Him.”
God pronounces woes on the arrogant and violent. The unjust rich will fall. The bloodstained cities built on corruption will crumble. Nations forged through cruelty cannot stand. Idols—those false gods we create in our own image—will fail. Only the Lord remains enthroned over all the earth.
Conclusion
Habakkuk teaches us to wrestle with God honestly, to bring our anguish before Him, and to wait in faith. Evil may seem triumphant for a time, but its end is sure. God's justice may be delayed, but it is never denied. In the face of chaos, we are called not to despair, but to live by faith—trusting that the Judge of all the earth will do what is right. In a world of violence, let our cry be that of the prophet: “I will stand at my watch.” May we be those who see evil—and yet wait in hope.
When you encounter evil—in the world, in your community, or within your own heart—do not grow numb or cynical. Like Habakkuk, bring your burden to God in honest prayer. Refuse to accept wickedness as normal. Stand at your watch. Seek God's heart. Live by faith, not by sight. Be alert to the ways He may use even unexpected means to correct, discipline, and redeem. And while you wait, be a voice for truth, a comfort to the afflicted, and a signpost pointing to the justice and mercy of the coming King. In doing so, your faith becomes more than belief—it becomes a prophetic witness in a darkened world.