Write the Vision

The Story

The prophet Habakkuk looked around at his nation and saw violence, injustice, and corruption everywhere. And he was frustrated with God.

“O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear!”

God answered, but not the way Habakkuk expected. He said He was raising up the Babylonians, a fierce and ruthless nation, to bring judgment.

Now Habakkuk had even more questions. How could God use people even more wicked than Israel?

So he did something wise. He said, “I will stand upon my watch… and will watch to see what he will say unto me.” He brought his questions to God and then waited for the answer.

And God spoke. “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come.”

God also said, “The just shall live by his faith.”

By the end of his short book, Habakkuk had changed. Even if the fig tree doesn’t blossom, he said, even if there are no grapes on the vine and no cattle in the stalls, “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

Reflection