Habakkuk

The beginning of Habakkuk is almost like a bad joke.

Habakkuk sees violence, wickedness, and destruction all around him. In the upper left of the painting, I represented the oracle of the Lord with the hand of God. Habakkuk cries out and asks when God is going to do something about everything he sees.
God answers by telling him to look, be astonished, and wonder. He is already doing something, and Habakkuk will hardly believe what is about to happen.
God is raising up the Chaldeans to sweep down upon Judah and gather captives like sand. They are a dreaded people, known for their violent horsemen and their ruthless strength. Habakkuk hears that they will “sweep through like the wind and pass on.”
He can hardly believe that God would use such a people as His instrument of judgment.
The Chaldeans do not trust in the Lord. Their strength is their god, and they depend entirely upon themselves. God makes clear that they too will be held guilty.
The Lord tells Habakkuk to stand watch and record the vision so that it can be preserved for the appointed time. I placed the scrolls beside him where he sits. The fulfillment is not yet, but it will come.
Habakkuk then finds a place to wait, watch, and reflect upon the woes ahead.
He understands that God is going to sweep a dirty nation clean with an even dirtier broom, and afterward He will throw the dirty broom away.
Habakkuk does not understand everything God is doing, but he knows that judgment is coming and that the Chaldeans will not escape accountability.
So he prays that in wrath, God will remember mercy.