Probably never heard that question, right? It's said to be one of the most difficult for people to come to terms with when trying to trust in God.
Habakkuk deals with this question. The book reminds me a lot of Job, which deals with another very difficult question - Why do bad things happen to good people? The results are almost the same. I think Habakkuk gets his questions answered a little more directly than Job, but the answer still isn't what most of us would want to hear. Job's questions are never really answered. But in the end both decide that what God said was sufficient, and they could trust Him.
Habakkuk starts with:
1:2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
I think Habakkuk's questions are legitimate. We've all thought them at some point. God DO SOMETHING! The underlying assumption, a wrong one at that, is that WE know what the right thing to do is and for some reason God is not doing it. God tells Habakkuk:
5 "Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.
God is wiser and all-knowing. Even if He told us the plan, most of the time we still wouldn't understand it. And I'm cool with that, who wants to serve a God that my little brain could understand EVERYTHING He does?
Habakkuk is worried because there are people sweeping through the country destroying and plundering everything in their path. He's scared b/c he is in the path. He is also disturbed by the fact that He believes in a good God and sees evil winning during his lifetime. If evil is winning, how can I trust God to prevail ultimately, and to protect me?
God answers Habakukk by telling him that their (the evil ones) time will come. They will be judged, held accountable, punished. BUT, that time has not come. In fact God is actually using them (not causing them) to accomplish a separate goal of His own. He even gives Habakkuk a little more info and tells him exactly what will happen to these people. But Habakkuk must be patient, TRUST God that it will happen and wait.
Habakkuk ends his book with a prayer, here is part of it:
3:16 I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. 17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.
Even though we are being invaded (and could be killed!) I will rejoice in the Lord? Even though there is no food I will rejoice in the Lord? If there is no food and my life could end, how is God protecting me? Because "stuff" can happen to you here on earth. Bad things happen, God has given not just you free will, but everyone. But you're Ultimate (eternal) well being is secured in God. This is far more worthy of rejoicing in than your current situation or the protection of your earthly life. Your eternal life or death is at stake and no one is strong enough to pull you from the protection of God's hands!
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