Can I Trust God: When Evil Seems to Win (Part 2) | Habakkuk 2:6-20

Habakkuk’s question rises out of the same kind of pain seen when believers suffer under governments, violence, and oppression. God’s people look at evil that seems to win and ask, “Do you not see?” God’s answer in Habakkuk 2 does not minimize the evil of Babylon, and it does not tell Habakkuk that judgment is unimportant. God answers by showing exactly what Babylon has done and exactly what Babylon deserves.

The five woes show that God sees completely. God sees those who heap up what is not their own, gain wealth through dishonest means, build cities with blood, shame their neighbors, and trust idols made by their own hands. The Babylonians act as though nobody sees and nobody will call them to account, but the God who formed the eye sees and the God who planted the ear hears. Evil never escapes His notice, even when it happens quietly, far away, or behind power and money.

God also judges perfectly. God’s woes carry an ironic reversal: the people Babylon plundered will plunder Babylon; the people Babylon shamed will see Babylon’s shame; the security Babylon built for itself will not protect it. Judgment may seem slow, but slow judgment is not absent judgment. Ecclesiastes warns that delayed consequences can make the human heart bolder in evil, yet God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

God reigns eternally, and His purpose is never thrown off course. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The enemy means evil, but God intends good from the beginning. Joseph’s slavery, prison, and eventual place in Egypt show that God was not scrambling after evil happened. Zion Church in China shows the same kind of reality: persecution scattered an in-person church, yet God used that scattering to grow its ministry far beyond one city.

Christ stands at the center of God’s perfect judgment and mercy. God cannot ignore sin, excuse sin, or pretend that evil does not matter. Every person will stand before the perfect Judge with nothing sufficient to say except that Christ paid the debt. Christ willingly took the punishment sin deserves, and His final word, “It is finished,” means paid in full.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. God sees what evil hides God sees violence, greed, oppression, deceit, and false worship with complete clarity. Evil often acts like nobody notices, but God is neither blind nor fooled. God’s sight brings comfort to the suffering and warning to the one who thinks sin can stay hidden. [12:24]
• 2. Judgment delayed is not judgment denied God’s patience can look like silence, but His judgment remains certain. Babylon’s power did not erase its guilt, and its success did not make its evil right. God will bring every deed, including secret deeds, before His perfect judgment. [20:21]
• 3. God intends good through evil God does not get surprised by the enemy’s plans and then scramble to fix them. Joseph’s suffering became the means by which many people were kept alive. God can use what rulers and enemies intend for evil to accomplish purposes that human eyes cannot yet see. [25:06]
• 4. Christ paid the sinner’s debt God’s perfect justice means excuses, good deeds, and painful backgrounds cannot erase guilt. Christ took the penalty that sin deserves and paid the debt in full. The only safe answer before the Judge is not self-defense, but trust in the Son who says, “It is finished.”
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [00:22] - Persecuted Christians and Habakkuk’s Question
• [04:32] - Can God Be Trusted When Evil Wins?
• [07:48] - The Five Woes Against Babylon
• [08:16] - God Sees Completely
• [16:32] - God Judges Perfectly
• [21:59] - God Reigns Eternally
• [23:07] - What Evil Meant, God Intended for Good
• [30:17] - The Perfect Judge and Christ’s Payment

Bible Reading

Habakkuk 2:6-20
“Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, ‘Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own— for how long?— and loads himself with pledges!’ Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoil for them. Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond. Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity! Behold, is it not from the LORD of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink— you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness! You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory. The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols. Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it. But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”
[00:08:16] [00:16:32]

Genesis 50:20
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”
[00:25:06]

Ecclesiastes 12:14
“For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
[00:20:21]

Proverbs 15:3
“The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.”
[00:12:24]

Observation questions

1. What specific sins and evils does God name in the five woes against Babylon in Habakkuk 2:6-20?
2. In what ways do the woes describe a reversal—Babylon receiving back what it had done to other nations? [00:16:32]
3. What things did Babylon appear to trust for safety and power, and what does Habakkuk say about those things?
4. In Genesis 50:20, what two intentions are present in Joseph’s suffering: the brothers’ intention and God’s intention? [00:25:06]

Interpretation questions

1. Why would God’s detailed description of Babylon’s greed, violence, exploitation, and idolatry have answered Habakkuk’s question about whether God sees evil?
2. Habakkuk says that Babylon’s wealth and high “nest” could not keep it safe. What does this reveal about the limits of money, power, success, and human security? [00:18:16]
3. Ecclesiastes 12:14 says that God will judge every secret thing. How does this truth bring both comfort to people who have been wronged and warning to people who hide sin? [00:21:07]
4. How does Christ taking the penalty for sin allow God to remain perfectly just while also showing mercy to sinners? [00:30:29]

Application questions

1. Where do you most feel the weight of evil seeming to win—perhaps in your own life, your community, the news, or the suffering of believers around the world? How does it help to remember that God sees it completely? [00:03:15]
2. Proverbs 15:3 says that God sees both evil and good. Is there any private attitude, pattern, relationship conflict, dishonest choice, or hidden sin that you have been treating as though no one sees? What would honest repentance look like this week? [00:12:20]
3. Babylon tried to build security through wealth, power, and control. What are you most tempted to rely on for safety instead of God—savings, work, reputation, health, relationships, or something else? How can you place that area back under God’s rule?
4. Delayed judgment can make people bolder in sin. Have you ever mistaken a lack of immediate consequences for God’s approval? What helps you remember that God’s patience is not permission to continue in sin? [00:20:21]
5. God can use what others intend for evil without approving of that evil. Is there a painful situation in your life where you need to ask God, “How might You be at work here?” What would it look like to keep trusting Him even if you cannot yet see the answer? [00:27:32]
6. When you think about standing before God as the perfect Judge, what answer are you tempted to offer—good deeds, excuses, comparisons with others, or your background? How does Christ’s words, “It is finished,” change the way you come before God? [00:34:29]
7. Who is someone suffering under injustice, persecution, or hardship that your group can remember and support this week? What practical action could express trust that God sees, cares, and will judge rightly?