The best book in the Bible that you’re not reading
Photograph by Daniel Joshua via Unsplash
Rev. Dr. Robert Wallace
It would be hard to pick the “best book” in the Bible, but I have a nominee for the best book in the Bible that is skipped — a book only glanced at when a reader overshot their original target during the sword drill. I believe Habakkuk is the best book in the Bible that no one reads.
While prophetic preaching is always timely, people prefer to focus on the big names: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. The adventurous preacher might wander into Hosea or Amos, but Habakkuk? That tiny prophetic book with a funny name is simply too much. Which is a shame, because Habakkuk’s struggle is a familiar one.
Ironically, the book of Habakkuk doesn’t contain any preaching by Habakkuk. The book is a conversation between the prophet and God, and the prophet opens the conversation with a hard question: “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help and you will not listen?” (Hab. 1:2)
The phrase “How long” is not asking for a calendar date but is a rhetorical indicator of lament. It is a phrase of frustrated desperation. Habakkuk is concerned that wicked people are prospering, and God is doing nothing in the world. He is upset that people who call themselves followers of God act selfishly and have no regard for justice. People lack empathy for their neighbor. The least of these are ignored or exploited. The people who are supposed to follow God’s instruction (Torah) and build systems that lead to human flourishing, instead stoke conflict and strife. Habakkuk says, “Justice is warped, and God is doing nothing.”
Though many of us have prayed similar prayers and been met with silence, God directly answers Habakkuk’s questions, and Habakkuk also learns an important lesson to be careful what you ask (or pray) for!
God’s answer opens with “Be astonished! Be astounded! For a work is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told.” (Hab 1:5b). It’s not a good sign when God’s opening line is, “You better sit down, because you won’t believe this.” In fact, God was right. The answer is difficult to believe.
God explains to Habakkuk in Hab. 1:5-11, that judgment is coming on the people who failed to live lives of justice. In fact, God was sending the wicked, polytheistic Babylonians who have no regard for others or justice, but simply make up their own rules. The Babylonians would bring judgment on Judah’s wicked ways.
Faced with this confusing response, Habakkuk responds to God as though he’s dialed a wrong number. “Are you not from of old, O LORD my God, my Holy One?” In other words, “I’m sorry, I was trying to reach Yahweh!” Habakkuk explains to God in Hab. 1:12-17, that this can’t be right! Yes, Judah is bad, but Babylon is so much worse! How can that be justice? Hab. 1:13 reads, “Your eyes are too pure to behold evil, and you cannot look on wrongdoing; why do you look on the treacherous, and are silent when the wicked swallow those more righteous than they?”
I believe Habakkuk is the best book in the Bible that no one reads. When I look around in the world — when I wonder why the unjust prosper and righteous struggle — when I wonder why God seems silent in times of suffering, Habakkuk provides the reminder that the righteous commit to God’s ways, no matter the frustrations of the stormy present.
Habakkuk felt confident that God wouldn’t be able to offer a satisfactory answer to those questions, and in some ways, he was right. God’s answer is deeply unsatisfying. God says, in Hab. 2:2-5, “It may take a while, and you’ll have to be patient…but the righteous will live by faith.” Then God spends the rest of chapter 2 warning that unjust living always leads to dangerous destructive consequences. A reckoning on the wicked will not be avoided forever. Unjust acts will lead to destruction.
“It’ll make sense eventually. The righteous one will trust me.” Habakkuk got his troubling answer and offered a unique response. He wrote a song. Habakkuk 3 is a psalm which even includes musical instructions. At the start, Habakkuk uses creation and conquest language to celebrate all that God has done. In Hab. 3:16, Habakkuk acknowledged his difficulties in trusting, even after all the ways God has been faithful. He says that God’s answer made him physically sick. But instead of arguing or pleading — instead of insisting he knew a better way — Habakkuk wrote two of the most beautiful verses in Scripture:
“Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will exult in the God of my salvation.” (Hab. 3:17-18).
God said, “The righteous trust me.” Habakkuk responded, “God, you have always been faithful. Even though I don’t like it and even if there is no evidence you are working, I will rejoice in the LORD.” Habakkuk does not say he will simply trust in the Lord, but rejoice in the Lord. Habakkuk is glad for the chance to serve, even when life doesn’t make sense.
Habakkuk’s is a faith I look up to. When I look around in the world — when I wonder why the unjust prosper and righteous struggle — when I wonder why God seems silent in times of suffering, I confess that my response to “you’ll just have to trust me” would not be “hey, I’m just glad to be here.”
Habakkuk provides the reminder that the righteous commit to God’s ways, no matter the frustrations of the stormy present. The righteous lift up the weak and the vulnerable, provide for the immigrant and the refugee, love their neighbor and even their enemy. The righteous act justly and have faith that it will all make sense, but until then, “I will rejoice in the LORD, I will exult in the God of my salvation.” That is a message that should not be skipped.
Rev. Dr. Robert Wallace is senior pastor, McLean Baptist Church, McLean, Virginia.
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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