Sightless Vision

There are moments when the world feels unbearably loud with injustice. When violence is normal, corruption is rewarded, truth is twisted, and those who are trying to live righteously feel worn down by it all. In those moments, heaven can feel painfully quiet. We pray. We wait. We wonder. And sometimes, like the prophet Habakkuk, we ask the question we are almost afraid to say out loud:

Where are You, God?

Habakkuk lived in a time that feels eerily familiar. He looked around and saw violence in the streets, injustice in the courts, corruption in leadership, and the righteous being pushed aside while the wicked prospered. The law had lost its power. Justice was no longer just. And so Habakkuk brought his confusion honestly to God.

How can a holy and just God allow injustice, moral disorder, and suffering to continue unchecked?

God answered — but not in the way Habakkuk expected.

Habakkuk asked why.
God did not explain.
God revealed.

Instead of giving Habakkuk a reason, God gave him a revelation:

“I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” (Habakkuk 1:5)

God revealed that He was raising up the Babylonians — a fierce, swift, ruthless empire — as His instrument of judgment against Judah’s sin. They would sweep across nations, crush resistance, and exercise terrifying power.

This was not comfort. This was escalation.

Yet God made something clear: Babylon was neither righteous nor sovereign. Their power was allowed, not ultimate. Their success was temporary, not final.

And here is where Isaiah’s words help us understand what Habakkuk was learning:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts… So shall My word be that goes out from My mouth: it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose.” (Isaiah 55:8–11)

God’s ways were higher than Habakkuk’s expectations. His purposes were deeper than Habakkuk’s understanding. But His word was still faithful — and still working.

After hearing this, Habakkuk did not retreat. He changed his posture.

“I will stand at my watch… and I will look to see what He will say to me.” (Habakkuk 2:1)

Habakkuk moved from questioning to waiting. From protesting to positioning himself before God. From demanding answers to listening for instruction.

And God met him there.

“Write the vision and make it plain…” (Habakkuk 2:2)

The vision was not Habakkuk’s dream. It was God’s revealed plan — that injustice would be judged, that Babylon’s rise was temporary, and that God remained sovereign over history. The Greek word for vision is horasis — a divinely granted sight. Not imagination. Not ambition. Revelation.

This verse is often used today to encourage people to write out their personal goals for the year. While planning is wise, that is not what this passage is about. Habakkuk was not writing down what he hoped would happen — he was recording what God said would happen.

Then God said:

“For the vision is yet for an appointed time… though it tarry, wait for it.” (Habakkuk 2:3)

God was not late. He was purposeful. Waiting was not passive — it was faithful trust while God’s word unfolded.

And then comes the anchor:

“The righteous shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4)
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

Habakkuk began in confusion. He ended in worship.

Not because circumstances changed — but because his view of God did.

He learned that divine silence is not divine absence.
That delay is not denial.
That God’s ways are always higher — even when we do not understand them.

And that is what faith truly is: trusting the God whose purposes are higher than our perception and whose promises never return empty.

Closing Prayer

Father God,
Thank You that Your ways are higher than ours and Your thoughts are deeper than our understanding. Forgive us for the times we demand explanations instead of learning to trust You. Teach us to wait well — not in frustration or fear, but in faithful obedience. Help us to live by faith and not by sight, to trust Your Word even when the vision tarries, and to believe that You are always at work, even when we cannot see it. Strengthen our hearts to stand, to wait, and to worship You in every season. In Jesus’ name, Amen.