These two prophets seem to come from the seventh century: about a century after Isaiah, and about fifty years before Jeremiah. They both respond to the Assyrian conquest of Israel (the northern ten tribes, after these tribes seceded, leaving behind the tribe of Judah, and the small tribe of Benjamin).

Nahum focuses on the wrath of God that will come upon Nineveh, the Assyrian capital: “A jealous and avenging God is the Lord; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and prolongs it against his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger but great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty” (Nahum 1:2-3).

Habakkuk, in contrast, wails with a deep sense of loss. “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 wrong-doing and look at trouble?” (Habakkuk 1:2-3). We’ve all been there, crying to the Lord for help in the midst of hard times, and the hard times just keep on coming.

Habakkuk felt frustration, but he also had a strong sense of expectancy. “I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint” (2:1). And God responded, telling Habakkuk that when he had seen the vision he should write it down – and write it big enough so that a courier running by could see it (2:2).

Yet though the answer was coming in a vision, big enough to share with everyone, the fulfillment of that vision might not be right away. “If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay” (2:3). Yet don’t those phrases – ‘seems to tarry’ and ‘wait for it’ – mean that it does indeed delay? Yes, we need to trust that ‘it will surely come.’ But our experience often turns out to be that although the text says ‘it will not delay,’ the fulfillment of the promise isn’t here yet, and we still feel the anxiety of waiting.

So Habakkuk waits. And his prayer of trust declares, “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” (3:17-18).

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I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given; they cried out with a loud voice, “Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?” (Revelation 6:9-10).
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Teach us to trust in you, O Lord. We are not good at patience; we feel anxious as we wait; and so often your answer does indeed seem to tarry. Grant us assurance in you: that we may rejoice in you, that we may exult in the salvation that you have established for us, O God.

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