Keeping Watch

Introduction

Today, I am writing while i Think about All Saints Day. A day we remember the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us. We come not in despair, but in hope, trusting in the promises of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Let us turn to the prophet Habakkuk, whose questions and watchful waiting can guide us as we look to the future with confidence in God's faithfulness.

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4¹The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.

²O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you, "Violence!" and you will not save? ³ Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. ⁴ So the law becomes slack, and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous; therefore, judgment comes forth perverted.

¹I 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. ²Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. ³ For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. ⁴Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith

Who is Habakkuk?

Habakkuk’s account stands apart from other prophetic books; it is a candid theological conversation between the prophet and God. He directly confronts the issue of theodicy—how the sovereign and righteous Lord can permit evil and the suffering of the righteous. Aside from his role as a prophet, little is revealed about Habakkuk himself. The book was written approximately between 605 and 600 BC, during the closing years of Judah’s independence, as the Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar was rising to prominence over the ancient Near East.

The historical context shows that Judah faced problems such as social injustice, religious corruption, and moral decline, all despite King Josiah’s reforms. The once great kingdom found itself squeezed between the weakening Assyrian Empire and the emerging Babylonian power. Habakkuk confronts the deep spiritual turmoil, lamenting both the unchecked iniquity within Israel and the providence of God in favoring a more ungodly nation as an instrument of judgment.

What does he do?

The prophet speaks to God; he moves beyond the immediate historical context to engage the enduring challenge of reconciling God’s sovereignty and holiness with an apparent triumph of evil. In Habakkuk’s eyes, the end was near. He wrestles with his faith honestly before God, expressing perplexity without forsaking trust. He lifts a lament before God, burdened by the pervasive presence of violence and injustice, and wrestling with the apparent silence. God seems to have better things to do than to intervene in the midst of suffering, and Habakkuk is stressed out. What is a righteous man to do when God seems so far away?

We, too, as the covenant community, know the sorrow of loss and the mystery of providence when our questions seem to go unanswered, especially as we remember those whom God has called home. Yet, in scripture —such as Habakkuk, Jeremiah, and Lamentations —we learn that faith does not silence grief; instead, it invites us to bring our honest doubts and laments before the sovereign God, trusting that wisdom and fatherly care will remain even when God’s purposes are hidden from us.

In Habakkuk 2:1, the prophet stations himself on the watchtower, awaiting the Lord’s revelation with steadfast expectation. He fully expects God to answer him, and he is ready to wait. His posture reminds us of our own calling, as pilgrims in this present age, to watch and wait upon the Lord with hope—not focusing on the shadows of our current moment, but rather on the promised light of Christ’s return. How often do we wait like that for anything?

On this All-Saints Sunday, we recall the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us—saints who persevered in faith despite seeing evil in their day. Like them, we see things falling apart around us; yet, just as God was faithful to the generations in Habakkuk’s day, Christ continues to intercede and advocate for us, even now in this very moment. The example of our loved ones, which we remember fondly, and the example of Habakkuk, urges us to embrace patient hopefulness, confident that the Lord who has called us is faithful to fulfill all He has spoken.

The Lord’s Response: The Righteous Shall Live by Faith (Habakkuk 2:2-4)

  God responds, not with an immediate answer to the depths of our questions or the problem of evil, but with a resolute call: “The righteous shall live by faith.” Habakkuk is instructed to write the vision plainly, for what God intends will surely come to pass in His appointed time. Yet, in this divine exchange, we see that the mystery of theodicy—the question of why God allows evil—remains beyond our comprehension.

  This is a part of God’s inexplicable wisdom and providence. Scriptures tell us that while we may never fully grasp the hidden purposes of God, it is precisely here that faith becomes our foundation. (Isaiah 55:8-9, Deuteronomy 29:29, Job 11:7, Romans 11:33-34, Ecclesiastes 3:11) We trust not in outward circumstances, but in the steadfast faithfulness of God, made known to us in Christ and sealed in us by the Holy Spirit. All Saints Day bears witness to this hope, assuring us that death does not have the final word. Through union with Christ, we rest in the promise of resurrection and eternal communion with all the saints. Be confident that God’s faithfulness will sustain you even as some mysteries remain veiled until that last day.

The Cheerful Promise:

The promise of reunion and hope reminds us that as we travel through life, we do so with joy, always watchful and encouraged by the assurance that we will one day be reunited with all the saints in the presence of our Lord. In this spirit, today, we honor the lives of those who have gone before us, pressing on in faith and trusting that God will fulfill every promise. Ultimately, our hope is anchored in Christ, in whom the vision is fully realized and the righteous are welcomed into eternal fellowship with God and one another.

Let us stay alert, keeping watch, as Habakkuk did, trusting in God's sovereign grace. Let us remember the saints with joy, and live by faith, confident that in Christ, all things are being made new. The vision awaits its appointed time; it will not fail. “The righteous shall live by his faith.” Thanks be to God! I will leave you to ponder the importance of Habakkuk’s faith and actions. Amen.

Bibliograph

Heschel, A. J. (2007). The Prophets: Two Volumes in One. Piladelphia: Hendrickson Publishers.

Meeks, W. A., Bassler, P. J., Lemke, T. W., Mays, P. J., Niditch, P. S., & Schuller, P. E. (Eds.). (1993). The Harper Collins Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version with the Apocryphal and Deuterocanonical Books. New York, New York, USA: Harper Collins Publishers.

NRSV Updated Edition Holy Bible. (2021). Holy Bible With Deuterocanonical/Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament., Updated Edition. Washington, D.C., USA: Zondervan.