Habakkuk has received God’s answer to his questioning remarks. God is right. Habakkuk does not fully understand what God has said. He can understand Judah’s coming punishment for sin, but he cannot reconcile the holiness of God with God’s determination to use such a wicked people as the Babylonians to destroy the people of God. Throughout chapters 1 and 2 there is not only an indication of the prophet’s perplexities with reconciling the nature of God and the circumstances of the world but a suggestion of presumption on Habakkuk’s part. His own theological system is unable to cope with life’s realities, so that rather than waiting patiently for God’s purposes to unfold, he actually presumes to instruct God. He has charged God with negligence and indifference (1:2–4); he will now charge God …