Habakkuk:2:1-4 (NKJV)
1I will stand my watch And set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me, And what I will answer when I am corrected.
2 Then the Lord answered me and said:
“Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. 4 Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.”
This passage from Habakkuk is part of a longer prophecy. Habakkuk starts off this book heavily burdened because it seems like God is not doing anything to help His people. He says that he has been praying, asking God to intervene, and it seems like God is ignoring him. God then answers Habakkuk and this leads to an incredible exchange between the two of them. God tells Habakkuk to write down everything that He is about to tell him. He says, “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets that he may run who reads it.” This vision is so important that God wants him to write it down so it will not be forgotten. The vision will not be fulfilled immediately. So, in the time before it comes to fruition, write it down so it stays clear and doesn’t get mixed up.
Why is having a vision from the Lord so important? Proverbs 29:18 (NIV) says, “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.” The NASB translates this verse as, “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is one who keeps the Law.” The Hebrew word for vision or revelation in Proverb 29:18 is chazon and Strong’s Concordance says it means: a sight (mentally), i.e. A dream, revelation, or oracle -- vision. It is the exact same word in Habakkuk 2:2.
Without vision, people cast off restraint. What does that mean? The Hebrew word for unrestrained is para’ and Strong’s defines it as: “avenge, avoid, bare, go back, make naked, perish.” Those are a lot of words with seemingly very different definitions from each other. I looked up this word to see where else it is found in Scripture and it is used twice in one verse. In Exodus 32:25 (NIV) it says, “Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies.” In this verse, para’ is translated first as “running wild” and also as “out of control.” I think that verse helps us better understand what is translated simply as unrestrained. Without a vision, people are prone to running wild and being out of control. That is why vision is so important. Without God’s revelation, people run wild and are out of control. That is exactly what happened to the Israelites and why they worshiped a gold calf. It’s what happens to all people without God’s word. Notably, this verse in Exodus precedes the people receiving the 10 Commandments. Moses had just been given the 10 Commandments on the tablets when he saw them worshiping the golden calf, but he threw them on the ground in his anger. Later, God made new tablets to replace those first ones. So at the time of their running wild, they had not yet had 10 Commandments written down for them to read. Notably, they had the Book of the Covenant. Earlier, God had spoken to the people and had instructed Moses to write down everything He said before Moses went up the mountain for 40 days to talk with God. Exodus 24 does not tell us if Moses took that book with him or if he left it for the people, but I think it’s safe to say, either way, the people did not read it. For Exodus 32:1 (NIV) tells us, “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, ‘Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’” If they had been reading the Book of the Covenant, would they have cast off their restraint? They ran wild and were out of control, for they had forgotten the word of God. The Lord had given them a vision, but they had forgotten it. Without this vision, they were perishing. God wanted Habakkuk to write the vision so it would not be forgotten.
Vision is vital to us humans. One of my favorite people in history is George Washington Carver. Our homeschool curriculum includes a biography about him. His story is incredible. He was born into slavery in 1864 in Missouri, but after his parents died, the couple who had purchased his parents to work on their farm adopted him and raised him as their own. We know him as the inventor of regenerative farming. He said, “Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” That sounds very similar to Proverbs 29:18, don’t you think? He was a Christian and so I am sure that he was referencing that proverb from scripture.
Where there is no vision, there is no hope. All people need a vision. But is any kind of vision good enough? No, we need vision that is from the Lord. We need His revelation. Habakkuk clarifies we need the Lord’s specific vision. He says that he will “watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.” I think Habakkuk is expecting that the Lord will make adjustments, give correction or even rebuke him for his wrong thinking. We can come up with a vision, but if we want to follow the Lord, we need to make sure our vision is from the Lord.
Jeremiah was another prophet who lived in the same time period as Habakkuk. Jeremiah 14:4 (NKJV) says, “And the Lord said to me, ‘The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart.’”
This is so important the Lord repeats it again in Jeremiah 23:16 (NKJV) which says, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the Lord.’”
People consistently have and apparently always will make up visions. It’s interesting that the Lord calls them “prophets.” It’s not a word we hear very often these days. Outside Christian circles, people will call someone a guru. Within Pentecostal circles, people will say someone has the gift of prophecy, but I’ve heard no one called a prophet. Even so, our society is full of prophets in the casual sense of the word. There are a lot of people who have taken on the role of speaking for God. We might call them influencers, celebrities, pastors, or politicians. Billionaires also seem to think their money makes them prophets. These “prophets” prophecy lies, and many times, they do so in the name of God. And just like Jeremiah says, when he quotes the Lord, God has not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them. These prophets prophesy false visions they make up from the deceit of their hearts. It’s their own ideas and we are wise not to listen to them.
We see the same warning in Ezekiel 13:2,6-7. God says about “those who prophesy out of their own imagination: […] Their visions are false and their divinations a lie. Even though the Lord has not sent them, they say, ‘The Lord declares,’ and expect him to fulfill their words. Have you not seen false visions and uttered lying divinations when you say, ‘The Lord declares,’ though I have not spoken?”
The danger is, if we don’t know what God has said, how will we see through the lies of the false prophets when they speak? We need to know God’s word so we can discern the false prophets from the truth.
Habakkuk 2:3 in the NASB is translated, “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hurries toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it delays, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay long.” This vision that we are to keep our eyes upon, it is ultimately a goal. It is a vision with a specific end in mind. The vision isn’t some nebulous thing. It has an end. It has a goal it is pointing to. Back to Proverbs 29:18, without a goal in mind, without an end that we are reaching for, we will be unfocused. We will be unrestrained. We need God’s clear vision or goal to be always in the front of our mind. That is how we end up at the place God wants us to end up at. This idea that we can just float through life without setting any goals is not a recipe for success for anybody.
The other day I came across a popular video that a celebrity made. This celebrity claims to be a Christian and so a lot of Christians follow him and listen to his advice and thoughts. I thought I’d see what he has to say. After viewing some videos he made, it’s clear this man is not a traditional Christian. He is a universalist. In the video I watched, he says that setting goals is detrimental to our mental health. He stated that when we set goals, we risk not fulfilling those goals and if we fail, then our self-esteem is damaged. He said that “a goal is the simplest way to fail” and so we shouldn’t set goals. I think that is terrible advice. If we do not set goals, how will we accomplish anything? In order to be successful at anything or grow and learn in any area of life, we have to set goals.
If we want to become a competent musician, we must set a goal of learning an instrument and make a plan to practice on a regular schedule. If we want to be healthy, we must set that as a goal and plan accordingly. If we don’t have goals, that means we are just letting life happen to us. Without goals, aren’t we then just living in response to our whims at any given moment? The mental picture that comes to mind is a person being tossed about by waves. That of course brings to mind Ephesians 4:4 which says that once we mature in faith, “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.”
In order to keep from being blown about by false prophets or false teaching, we must keep God’s vision clear in our minds. We must set a goal to pursue and know God’s vision and revelation. I think this goes right along with Joshua 1:8 (NIV) which says, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
This idea to keep God’s word always on our lips is similar to Habakkuk’s prophecy to set God’s vision where it can be seen clearly. He is told, “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.”
There seem to be two interpretations as to what is meant by the Hebrew phrase: “that he may run who reads it.” The NASB took that phrase straight from the Hebrew translation to English. Some newer Bible translations, like the ERV, say, “Write it clearly on a sign so that the message will be easy to read.” I don’t think that’s only what the Lord is saying in this verse. I think the Hebrew is saying that when we read the vision, we are to run. We are not to ignore it or sit down, so to speak, doing nothing about it. If the interpretation to run is correct, that fits in with what James 1:22-25 says: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”
God’s vision is so important that once received, we must act on it. That is why we must be certain that the vision is from the Lord. We must wait, not act, until we hear His vision. God tells Habakkuk to wait for it. He says in verse 3, “For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” How can the vision tarry but not tarry? Does that seem contradictory? Even though the end or the goal of the vision is not immediate, it is delayed, yet it is not delayed. Confused? I was too, and then a figurative lightbulb turn on above my head. Think of the word delayed. Let me explain it using an example: I really want to eat some chocolate chip cookies right now. My satisfaction is going to be delayed though, because I need to bake them first. Good thing I have all the ingredients, because now I won’t be delayed in eating these cookies.
In other words, the vision that God has given Habakkuk will not be immediate. It will tarry, but it will not tarry in that it won’t be late. It will arrive at the appointed time. All we have to do is wait for the vision.
What if we don’t have a clear vision from the Lord? What if we feel like we are in limbo or are not sure what the Lord’s purpose for our lives at this moment is? I used to think that I needed to hear some big revelation from the Lord so that I could “know what the Lord wants me to do.” In my twenties, I struggled a lot with feeling restless. I experienced a lot of angst over trying to figure out “God’s will” for my life. It really bothered me and, frankly, caused a lot of stress. I don’t know when this happened, but at some point, and I’m positive it was the Holy Spirit who revealed this to me, I realized I don’t need to worry about discovering God’s will for my life. He has already made His most important vision for my life clear. It’s the same vision that God has for all of our lives. It is the same vision or goal that Paul talks about in Philippians 3:13-14 when he says, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
God’s will for my life, His vision that He wants me to write down and make plain so that I can get to work on it right away is exactly what Philippians 3 is talking about. God wants me, and you, and everybody, to press on to the goal of following Christ. It is truly this simple.
When we are wondering what God’s will for our life is, we should focus on following Jesus. When we don’t know what we are to do next, we should focus on following Jesus. The vision we are to keep before our eyes: it is following Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:9 says that “we [should] make it our goal to please him.”
Jesus Himself tells us this same thing when He says in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Our first goal, having precedence over every other thing in our lives, is to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness. God will then bring everything else to us. He will make our next steps clear if we are following Him.
Then we come to verse 4, which says, “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.” This verse is probably the most often quoted verse in Habakkuk. The New Testament quotes it numerous times. One example is Hebrews 10:36-39 (NIV) which says:
36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For,
“In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”
38 And,
“But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”
39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
For those of us who have received salvation, we know what vision from the Lord we are waiting for: the return of Jesus. We look forward to His coming again. While we wait for His return, it may feel like He is delayed. We might even feel like He has forgotten us. That is why we must daily remind ourselves of His promise to return and as we wait for Him, we live by faith. As we wait, we are not to be like those who shrink back and lose faith, but we are to press on to the goal by keeping His vision always before our eyes. The way we do that is to be sure we know what He has said. We must read His word so we can identify false prophets who do not speak for God. And we must run to obey Him when the Holy Spirit speaks to us. Our prayer should be as the Psalmist said in Psalm 119:60, “I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.”
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your love toward us. Please help us by Your Holy Spirit, to run to obey Your word. We need Your help to keep Your vision always in front of our minds and to be able to discern truth from lies. Please help us to make following You the number one goal of our lives. We love You and in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
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