In most congregational settings, the name Habakkuk does not bring people to their feet. He is not considered famous biblically speaking, like the more recognized names of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others. In point of fact, most people do not know who Habakkuk is or what he did.

Habakkuk was a prophet who undertook to sustain the faith of the nation through one of the most hopeless periods of Hebrew history.

The question that he raises is a question that oftentimes seems to find a time and place within each generation, generation after generation. The question is, "Why is God silent while the wicked succeed?"

There has been some debate about when he wrote. Until recently it was generally agreed that he preached against Babylon, about 600 B.C. But that date and the place of his writing has me…