God promised that there would be wars and rumours of wars and many other problems, disasters and difficulties before His return to earth. We are living through those things today, just as the world has done since Jesus left His followers to fill the earth with knowledge of Him.
Eve, in the garden of Eden, thought she could decide for herself what was and was not good for her. She acted according to her own pride. Of course, she was influenced by the enemy, satan in the guise of the snake. Sadly, mankind has fallen into the same trap.
We think of death as the end of life on earth, a separation from the world and those we love. But the original meaning meant a separation from God. Adam and Eve had no idea what that meant until they ate the forbidden fruit and the Spirit of God left them.
Christians and Jews are still considered enemies to many people across the world! The answer to that problem is still the same as it was for Habakkuk. The righteous person will live by his faith. The alternative translation works well too. The righteous person will live by HIS faithfulness.
Jesus is the answer to any problem we might be facing. But often we must wait for Him to move, just as the Israelites had to wait centuries for Him to appear. And when He did, He was not at all what they had expected. Many of them rejected Him.
This verse begins The Lord replied…. So often we pray, say amen and move on. I ask myself how often I really wait for a reply from God. He could well be responding, but I am no longer listening because my life is full and my thoughts have moved on!
We must never think that it is easy to be a prophet of God. It was not always easy in Biblical times, nor is it easy in the midst of our 21st century world. I guess Habakkuk was hearing complaints from lots of people and passing them on to God.
Oh that the christian church would rise up to that truth and come against that same enemy. Yes, Jesus defeated him at the cross. But Jesus left his disciples to finish the job and get the world to submit to Him and spread his glorious message of love and peace.
God told His church to live in victory, and we have given in to defeat. The early church was a group of men and women who went into all the world and preached the gospel. But since those times, the church has become an institution with rules and regulations!
The prophet cannot believe what he is hearing. He knows without any doubt who God is and all He can do, but he does not understand what God is doing, and why He will allow such wickedness. Many of us feel like that today when we look at the world.
EN 
FR