Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on SoundOn
Saturday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of Saint Dominic, Priest Habakkuk 1:12–2:4
We know very little about the prophet Habakkuk.
Even the meaning of his name is not certain.
Some say it may refer to a plant.
Others connect it with a Hebrew root meaning “to embrace.”
If so, Habakkuk is the one who embraces God,
but also the one who struggles with God.
And that fits his book well.
Habakkuk lived in a violent time,
probably when Babylon was rising in power
under Nebuchadnezzar.
It was a world where justice seemed weak,
where violence seemed strong,
where the wicked surrounded the righteous,
and where God seemed strangely silent.
Habakkuk asks the question many people still ask today:
Why?
Why does God tolerate evil?
Why does injustice continue?
Why do the powerful crush the weak?
Why does heaven not intervene?
In the wider context of the book,
the first answer is shocking.
God says that He is raising up the Babylonians.
But this creates an even deeper question.
How can a brutal empire become an instrument of God’s judgment?
How can evil be used against evil?
Habakkuk cannot accept an easy answer.
He does not walk away from God.
But he also does not pretend that he understands.
He takes his place like a watchman on the tower.
He waits.
He listens.
He brings his complaint before the Lord.
This is already faith.
Not faith that has all the answers.
Not faith that says everything is simple.
But faith that refuses to abandon God
even when God’s ways are hidden.
Then comes the answer.
The vision still waits.
It may seem delayed.
But it will come.
And then the Lord says one of the most important lines in the whole Bible:
“The righteous one will live by faith.”
This sentence later becomes central for Saint Paul.
Paul takes Habakkuk’s words and proclaims
that we are saved not by our own power,
not by control,
not by religious pride,
but by faith in Jesus Christ.
The Letter to the Hebrews also takes up this verse
to encourage Christians who suffer and grow tired.
Do not give up.
Do not turn back.
Live by faith.
This is not passive waiting.
It is not closing our eyes to evil.
It is standing on the tower,
refusing lies,
refusing despair,
refusing to worship power,
and trusting that God’s vision will not fail.
Habakkuk teaches us that faith is sometimes an embrace,
and sometimes a struggle.
Jesus shows us what this faith looks like.
On the cross, he trusted the Father
when darkness covered the earth.
And in the resurrection, the Father showed
that darkness does not have the final word.
So the righteous person does not live by control,
by violence,
by fear,
or by easy answers.
The righteous person lives by faith.
Faith that waits.
Faith that watches.
Faith that trusts the God
who is still present,
even when the night is long.
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition,
copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Content License
© 2025 Krakus.
Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
(Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial).