O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? 

Habakkuk 1:2

Habakkuk is not a name that rolls off the tongue, is it? It is not a name that we typically give to our children. I don’t think that I’ve never known anyone by that name. But Habakkuk is the name of a real person, a biblical prophet, the one that we hear from in today’s first reading (Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4).

Habakkuk is a book with only three chapters. And it only shows up in our Sunday readings once every three years. Today happens to be that day. So it won’t surprise you to know that I am going to preach on it. Not only because of how rarely it shows up in our Sunday readings. And not only because I happen to really like this book. But also because, as is so often the case, it is showing up in our Sunday readings at a time when its message seems very timely, very relevant to what is happening in the world around us.

So I am want to spend a little time with this book, this first reading, in my sermon this morning. 

Habakkuk’s Questions

This book begins with Habakkuk asking the Lord two questions that I suspect we have all asked, at one time or another:

How long, O Lord? Is the first question. How long, O Lord, shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? 

This is certainly a question that is relevant now, as we look at the rising violence in our world. How long, O Lord? 

And the second question is like it. It is the age-old question: Why? Why, O Lord, do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Why are these things happening in our world? Why, O Lord, do you let them happen? 

When we see violence in our world, we can’t help but ask this question. I don’t have to name all the recent violence in our world or country. We can’t escape seeing it, being affected by it. So much violence. Why, O Lord? 

And not just violence, but also great suffering in our world. With people we love. Why, O Lord? And how long? 

We are here because we believe in God. We believe that God can end the violence and suffering in our world. We believe that God loves our world, and loves us. But we still can’t help but ask why? Why doesn’t God do something about all these problems in our world?

Habakkuk’s Response

The first thing that the prophet Habakkuk teaches us in today’s reading is that these are natural questions for us, as people of faith, to ask. And the right one for us to ask is the Lord.

Habakkuk asks these questions 600 years before the time of Christ. That’s a long time ago. But things really haven’t changed that much.

Let me tell you a little about the world that Habakkuk was living in to show you what I mean. It was about 2,600 years ago. Habakkuk was living in Judah. And his country was dealing with a lot of things that were making everyone quite anxious. There were threats to its security and well-being from outside their borders. And there was political turmoil within. You had Babylon threatening them on one side. And Egypt threatening on the other.

But there was also significant corruption taking place inside their borders. Many of the political leaders in his country were corrupt. But not just the leaders. The country itself was on the decline, morally and spiritually. It was a scary time, in other words, and a frustrating time, filled with anxiety and uncertainty about the future, and a time when God’s people were not living in God-pleasing ways.

And that is precisely when Habakkuk asked the Lord these questions. How long, O Lord? And why? “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble?”

Habakkuk teaches us that it is okay to ask the Lord these questions. And then he teaches us the next step. And the next step might be described as faithful patience. Because God doesn’t answer Habakkuk right away. No surprise there, right? So Habakkuk resolves to wait for an answer, and not to give up on God.

“I will stand at my watchpost,” writes Habakkuk, “and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what God will say to me, and what He will answer concerning my complaint.”

In the midst of the questions and uncertainties in his world, Habakkuk resolves to stand firm in his faith. To stand at his watchpost, and to keep watch to see what God will say to him, and how God will answer his questions. In the midst of the questions and uncertainties of our age, and of our lives, the first and most important thing that we can do as people of faith is to stand firm. To ask the difficult questions. But then to stand firm in our faith. To watch. To pray. To trust. And to hope.

There’s more to do, to be sure, but we can’t skip this step. It is the step of faith. Of putting our faith and trust in God. 

And even when we don’t understand why God is allowing the mess that we are in, we don’t give up on God. We stand at our watchpost. And watch and pray and trust and hope. And we don’t give up on God. Because we have faith in his promises.

Mustard-Seed-Size Faith

But, here is where the mustard seed comes in, right? Because our faith can get down to the size of a mustard seed at times. 

We find ourselves saying, just like the apostles did to Jesus in today’s Gospel reading (Luke 17:5-10): “Lord, Increase our faith!”

We all have times in our lives when our doubts threaten to overwhelm our faith. When we feel like we need more faith to meet the challenges we are facing. But Jesus reminds us that it is not the amount of faith that matters. It is who we place that faith in.

If we place that faith and trust in something other than Jesus, it will never be enough. But if we place that faith and trust in Jesus, then the smallest amount is plenty. A mustard seed faith is more than enough, when that mustard seed faith is in Jesus. Our faith may very well get down to the size of a mustard seed. But Jesus teaches us that even that amount of faith is enough.

God’s Answer

So, back to Habakkuk. What happens as he stands at his watchpost? This is what the Lord said to him: 

“Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.”

The answer that the Lord gave to Habakkuk, is the answer that the Lord gives to all who wait in faith. And it is simply this: Don’t give up. If what you are waiting for seems to tarry, wait for it. It will surely come. God always keeps his promises. And God promises that there will come a day when there will be no more violence, or evil, or injustice, or suffering.

That day will surely come. Wait for it. Believe in it. But not only that. God tells Habakkuk to write it down. Make it plain. Share that faith with a world that doubts. If you think your faith is small, what about your neighbor’s? If we have even a mustard seed size faith in our Lord, it is our holy calling to share that faith with others. To share our hope. Our confidence in the future. Because of our confidence in God. After all, the word ‘confidence’ literally means with faith. And Habakkuk tells us that the right way to live is to live by our faith.

Closing

One of my favorite passages in Habakkuk is in the third and final chapter, which we didn’t hear in that first reading. But it’s so important to the book that I want to share just a little bit of it with you. This last chapter is actually a prayer of Habakkuk’s. It is his response to what God has revealed to him. And here are the closing words of this powerful prayer:

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. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread upon the heights” (Habakkuk 3:17-19).

There is a little word in this prayer that might just be the most important word in this entire book. And that is the little word: “Yet.” Though all of this stuff is happening in our world, Habakkuk prays, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. What a powerful statement of faith that is. What a powerful prayer for us to join in praying today. 

Though all of this is happening in our world. Though all of this might be happening in our own lives. Though all of this might be happening with people that we love. Though we ask our Lord, how long? And though we want to know why. And though we wait, seemingly in vain, for these answers. Though all of that may be true, still we dare to say, “yet;” still we dare to believe that God is at work in this world. And when all is said and done, we dare even to rejoice in the Lord. We dare to exult in the God of our salvation. 

We pray this little word, “yet,” because we dare to live by faith. Our faith might stumble and wobble a little. How can it not, in the world in which we live? We might ask our Lord to increase our faith. The apostles did. Why shouldn’t we? But even when our faith is reduced to the size of a very small seed, we dare to cling to it, and to rejoice in our Lord.

No matter what this world throws at us, we dare to join with Habakkuk, and with all of God’s people throughout history, in saying: yet. “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength.”

Thanks be to God. Amen.