Christ Current

The first chapter of Habakkuk ended with the prophet wrestling with a difficult question: How could a holy God use the wicked nation of Babylon to discipline His own people? Habakkuk brought his honest, raw complaint before the Lord, struggling to reconcile God’s holiness with what He was about to do.

The second chapter begins with Habakkuk’s powerful closing of his second complaint. Rather than simply voicing his questions and moving on, he takes his stand and waits for God to answer. There is so much for the children of God to reflect on in this verse alone, so this post will be dedicated to the first verse of chapter two.

I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.
—Habakkuk 2:1

This is how this verse reads in the NASB, which is closer to the original:

I will stand at my guard post And station myself on the watchtower; And I will keep watch to see what He will say to me, And how I may reply when I am reprimanded.

Again, let us be stirred to imitate Habakkuk’s faith. There is so much in this one verse alone, and as we examine it more closely, we will see a beautiful picture of what it means to wrestle with God while remaining watchful, expectant and humble before Him.

Standing Firm: A Posture of Faith and Readiness

After bringing his raw questions and complaint before God, Habakkuk ends with a posture of watchfulness. He plants his feet and takes his stand. This isn’t the posture of someone who quickly glances toward heaven and then carries on with life, assuming nothing will happen. Habakkuk positions himself like a guard on duty, attentive and ready.

He didn’t make his complaint and then walk away without expecting a response. He stationed himself, waiting for the Lord to speak. His questions had not yet been answered but he remained in a posture of spiritual readiness. What an example for us!

It is possible to bring our concerns to God and then become consumed by them, allowing anxiety, confusion, and the opinions of others to occupy our minds. Or even our own overthinking! Habakkuk shows us we can bring our deepest questions and confusion before the Lord and then take our stand, trusting His character and faithfulness while we wait for His response.

Ask yourself. While others may be asleep, are you keeping watch? Are you spiritually alert, attentive to the Lord, and ready to receive what He desires to teach you?

The Watchman: Active Patience and Expectation

Throughout Scripture, watchmen and watchtowers appear in the writings of the prophets, like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. A watchtower elevated a guard’s position, allowing him to see approaching enemies or messengers from a distance. The watchman had to remain alert, attentive and ready.

This imagery helps us understand the kind of waiting Habakkuk describes. It is not indifference but an active watching for God’s response. It is all about being in the right position to receive from God. Do we pray expecting God to answer? Do we open our Bibles expecting His Spirit to teach us and minister to our hearts? Are we attentive to His Word, ready to receive instruction even when it challenges us?

This brings to mind the beautiful imagery captured in Psalm 130:

I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.
—Psalm 130: 5-6

The psalmist compares his waiting for the Lord to that of watchmen waiting for the morning. Picture the watchman standing through the darkness, looking toward the horizon for the first light of dawn. He knows the night won’t last forever, and he remains at his post, looking for the morning.

Don’t you feel this way at times? You endure excruciating pain, waiting for God to bring relief. You walk through difficult circumstances, unable to see the way forward, yet trusting that He will lead you through. You grieve the loss of someone you love, wondering when the ache in your heart will ease, yet trust that God will carry you through the long nights of sorrow.

Like the watchman standing in the darkness, fully expecting daybreak to come, we, too, can endure our darkest seasons with the assurance that our present circumstances won’t last forever. We may not know when the night will lift or how God will bring us through, but we know what (and who) awaits us. As Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 4:17 states: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” Maybe God is doing something far greater than we can grasp in this waiting.

In Psalm 130, the Hebrew word translated “wait” is qavah (קָוָה), which also means to expect, to patiently tarry, to look for. It isn’t a passive waiting of doing nothing, but an active tension-filled waiting. Another thought provoking meaning of that word is to twist and intertwine. Maybe you’ve been through a long trial or waiting season with the Lord and it wasn’t until you were through that you could really see that God forged something great there. Maybe that waiting produced a closeness with the Lord you had not had before, a deeper faith, a deeper abiding, a twisting and entanglement of your heart with His.

This brings a beautiful picture of waiting on the Lord. Biblical waiting isn’t the absence of activity but a heart directed toward God, trusting Him and looking to Him for His intervention. As we wait, our hearts can become increasingly anchored in Him, growing in intimacy and dependence.

Carrying on in this verse, the word translated “hope” is yachal (יָחַל), which also means to wait and expect. Can hope then be separated from waiting on the Lord or waiting be separated from hope? I do not believe so. We wait because we have hope in the Lord, and our hope sustains us as we wait. The watchman does not abandon his post simply because the night seems long. Likewise, we are called to persevere in hope, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus even when His answer has not yet come.

Waiting on the Lord is not giving up; it is remaining at our post because we trust the One we are waiting for.

Waiting for Our Bridegroom

This watchful expectation brought me a joy-filled reflection on the Church’s hope: the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 1:10:

And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

The Greek word translated “wait” here is anamenó, which portrays an earnest, lingering waiting. Again, it is an active waiting that rises with intensity as the day of what is hoped for draws near.

Just as Habakkuk stationed himself to await God’s response, we are called to live with our hearts and minds oriented toward the promised return of our Savior. This hope should influence how we live today: to persevere, remain faithful and obedient as we await our Bridegroom.

The result should not be that we lose heart, but that we take heart. Our waiting is sustained by the certainty of God’s promises. Habakkuk had a sustained orientation of mind, heart and behavior bent toward God’s reply. Likewise, we are to live with a sustained orientation toward God in eager expectation—like a watchman waits for the morning.

The Watchtower: Gaining a Higher Perspective

Habakkuk says that he will not only stand at his guard post but also station himself on the watchtower. The position of a watchtower gave the watchman an elevated perspective and wider view of the surrounding landscape. From there, he could see what might be difficult to discern from the ground.

There is a spiritual application for us here. When we are perplexed or confused, where do we turn? Do we immerse ourselves more deeply in immediate comforts, seek the world’s opinions, and allow competing voices to overwhelm us? Or do we withdraw from the noise and turn our attention toward the Lord?

We don’t always understand what God is doing but we can turn our hearts and minds toward Him while we wait. The watchtower gives us a helpful imagery of intentionally turning our attention toward Him instead of allowing our circumstances and the world around us to consume our perspective.

This brings to mind a teaching by A.B. Simpson called “Look from the Top.”

Yes, our perplexities would become plain if we kept on a spiritual elevation. Often when the traveler quite loses his way he can discern it again from some hilltop where all the winding paths on which he has come appear behind him, and the whole homeward road opens before. So, from the heights of prayer and faith, we too can see the plain path and know we are going home. There is no other way in which we can gain the victory over the world. We must rise above it. We must see it from the side of our great reward. Then it will look like earthly objects do after we have gazed upon the sun for a while. We are blind to them. When the Italian fruit seller finds that he is heir to a ducal palace you cannot tempt him anymore with the paltry profits of his trade or the company of his old associates. He is above it all. They who know the hope of their calling and the riches of the glory of their inheritance can well despise the world. It is the poor starving ones who go hungering for the husks of earth. We are born from above and have a longing to go home. Let us go forth today with our hearts on the home stretch.

Amen. This is the idea of the watchtower. Our perspective changes when our hearts are fixed on the Lord and the hope we have in Him. We still have to walk through the winding paths and we may not understand every turn, but we can live with our hearts directed toward our heavenly Home.

How easily we become entangled in the affairs of this world and lose sight of our heavenly calling! Paul reminds us in 2 Timothy 2:4 that a soldier must not become entangled in civilian affairs but remain focused on pleasing his commanding officer. Likewise, we must also be careful not to let the distractions of this world pull our eyes away from Christ.

Let us stand on our watchtowers, firm in the faith, with our eyes and hearts fixed on the Home stretch.

Watching to See: Expecting God to Speak

From this place of watchfulness, elevation and separation, Habakkuk says, “I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me.” Notice the confidence in his words. Habakkuk does not say he will watch to see whether God will answer. He says “He will” answer. This is particularly interesting when we remember how his first complaint began:

How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?
—Habakkuk 1:2

In chapter one, Habakkuk was distressed by what seemed to be God’s silence. Now, in chapter two, he takes his stand and looks confidently for God’s response. There is something else worth noticing in this verse: Habakkuk says he will see what God will speak to him. Why does he use the language of seeing when referring to God speaking?

Throughout Scripture, God communicated with His prophets in various ways (and still does today), including visions and dreams. The language of seeing and hearing can overlap, reminding us that God’s communication is not limited to the ways we might ordinarily expect.

Habakkuk remained attentive, looking to see what God would respond. Are we doing the same?

Personal Application: Are We Positioned to Hear From God?

Habakkuk challenges us to examine our own lives. Are we attuned to His Spirit and in a ready position to receive His leadings? Are we more immersed in the world than His Word? Are we living with an awareness that we belong to the Lord and are called to be distinct from the world? Are we more attentive to the world’s competing voices than to the voice of our Good Shepherd? Are we setting aside time to be alone with God, making room for prayer and meditating on His Word?

We see repeatedly in the Gospels that Jesus withdrew to pray. For example, Matthew 14:23 tells us that He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray, and Luke 6:12 describes Him spending the night in prayer with God.

If Jesus, in His earthly ministry, regularly withdrew to pray, how much more should we recognize our need for communion with the Father?

We may not have a literal watchtower, but we can see this idea clearly and intentionally, setting aside the distractions of daily life with surrendered hearts in order to elevate our minds to the things of heaven.

As A.B. Simpson wrote, let us look from the top. Let us seek the Lord’s perspective rather than allowing the world around us to dictate and inundate our minds.

Humility: Being Willing to Receive Correction

There is one final detail in this verse we must not overlook. The NASB concludes: “And how I may reply when I am reproved.” Habakkuk is not just waiting to hear a reply that confirms his own perspective; he is prepared to receive a response that may challenge him.

The Hebrew word translated “reproved” is tokachath (תּוֹכֵחָה) which means rebuke, chastisement, correction. Habakkuk brought his honest questions before God but he was also willing to listen. He didn’t presume his own understanding was complete.

There is a humility in this that we should seek to imitate.

It’s one thing to bring our questions to God, but another to remain open to the possibility that our thinking needs to be corrected. Sometimes we can become so focused on understanding our circumstances that we fail to consider what the Lord may want to teach us or correct through it. We want answers, but are we also willing to be instructed? We want our circumstances to change, but are we willing to be changed?

We must remember that our understanding is limited, while God’s is not. Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord declares:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
—Isaiah 55:8-9

Recognizing the limits of our own understanding is the beginning of a teachable heart. Throughout Proverbs, we see that wisdom comes to those who are willing to receive correction and instruction rather than stubbornly clinging to their own understanding.

We see a similar principle in Hebrews 12, where the writer reminds believers that God’s discipline is an expression of His love: “because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” The context of Hebrews 12 is enduring hardship and understanding God’s loving discipline. Although it addresses a different situation from Habakkuk’s complaint, it reinforces the truth that God’s children must be willing to receive His correction.

God’s correction and discipline is not evidence that He has abandoned us; it is evidence that we are His. It may not be enjoyable or pleasant at the time but it is intended for our good, producing a harvest of righteousness and peace in those who are trained by it (Heb 12:11). We should therefore come before the Lord with both honesty and humility. We can bring our deepest questions without pretending to understand, while remaining willing to have our assumptions, attitudes and actions examined in the light of His truth.

Are we teachable and open to the Lord’s correction? Do we ask Him to reveal where our thinking or behavior is out of alignment with His Word? Are we willing to repent when He disciplines and instructs us?

Let us not only pray, “Lord, answer me.” Let us also pray, “Lord, teach me. Correct me where I am wrong and give me the grace to respond in obedience.”

Connecting It All: A Life of Faith

Habakkuk demonstrates a life lived by faith. He brought his difficult questions before God, took his stand, positioned himself to watch, and waited expectantly for the Lord’s reply. He directed his attention toward God rather than allowing the evil circumstances around him to have the final say. And he waited in humility to receive any correction. This is something we should imitate as God’s children.

We are called to stand firm in God’s character and promises, not moving from the hope held out in the Gospel. We are to have our eyes fixed on Jesus with eager expectation for His coming, in a humble posture of spiritual readiness, being transformed continually until that day. We may wrestle with difficult questions, long seasons of waiting, even as the Bride waits for her Bridegroom now, but we can confidently bring those questions directly to Him.

Like Habakkuk, let us wrestle honestly with God and then take our stand at the watchtower.

Stand firm in faith at your post. Keep watch with expectant hearts. Look to the Lord, remain attentive to His Word, and be willing to receive whatever He desires to teach you. Let us not only bring our pleas to God, but position ourselves to hear His response.

In the next part of the series, we will see how God responds to Habakkuk at his post.

Habakkuk Study Series to Date: