Habakkuk 1:1-11 (AMP)
1 THE BURDEN or oracle (the thing to be lifted up) which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help and You will not hear? Or cry out to You of violence and You will not save?
3 Why do You show me iniquity and wrong, and Yourself look upon or cause me to see perverseness and trouble? For destruction and violence are before me, and there is strife, and contention arises.
4 Therefore the law is slackened and justice and a righteous sentence never go forth, for the [hostility of the] wicked surround the [uncompromisingly] righteous; therefore justice goes forth perverted.
5 Look around [you, Habakkuk, replied the Lord] among the nations and see! And be astonished! Astounded! For I am putting into effect a work in your days [such] that you would not believe it if it were told you.
6 For behold, I am rousing up the Chaldeans, that bitter and impetuous nation who march through the breadth of the earth to take possession of dwelling places that do not belong to them.
7 [The Chaldeans] are terrible and dreadful; their justice and dignity proceed [only] from themselves.
8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards and are fiercer than the evening wolves, and their horsemen spread themselves and press on proudly; yes, their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle that hastens to devour.
9 They all come for violence; their faces turn eagerly forward, and they gather prisoners together like sand.
10 They scoff at kings, and rulers are a derision to them; they ridicule every stronghold, for they heap up dust [for earth mounds] and take it.
11 Then they sweep by like a wind and pass on, and they load themselves with guilt, [as do all men] whose own power is their god.

I don’t know about you, but I know how many times I have cried out to the Lord with anguish “how long Lord, “as Vs 2, isn’t it interesting that Habakkuk felt the same way about situations as you and I do today?
We are in situations daily and see others that may make us ask “where is God?” why is He not doing anything about such and such…? Habakkuk was waiting on the Lord to answer his prayer and cried just like a lot of us are doing daily and wondering why the Lord is not answering.
The question, “How long, O Lord?” is asked by both Christians and unbelievers alike. The question is littered throughout the psalms but psalm 88 is one of the most desperate ones of all, it begins and ends in darkness—while acknowledging the Lord is the God of our salvation. God’s people have repeatedly cried out to him, “Lord, how long will it be like this?” If you are having those same thoughts these days, be comforted that you are not alone. You stand in a long line of saints who have gone before and honestly if you have not cried out to the Lord that way, it means all is well with your world. Today’s injustice, evil and sin continues to appear to prosper, but not because God is indifferent, He’s got a plan. God always have a plan. God wants us to partner with in prayer- to keep praying no matter what happens and how long the answer seems in coming. Pour out your concern to God in prayer.
Habakkuk knew he had to preserve in prayer no matter the delay, distraction, or discomfort to him.
We need the help of God to have strong faith to keep praying and not give up if we think our prayer is not answered right away. We need to keep in the word of God so as not to be discouraged in the time of waiting but to continue to pray.
Have you concluded like this prophet that even if everything normal and predictable collapsed in life and society, the prophet would still rejoice, will you rejoice?
Peter tells us that the Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise, 2 Peter 3:9. At some point in life, we reach a place where it’s painfully clear that our sense of time-urgency must be different from God’s. And it is. We prefer to measure time in minutes, rather than months. But the Ancient of Days measures time by millennia according to 2 Peter 3:8.
God knows that He always appears slow to us because we live in an era of instant gratification, but He gave us His word in the scriptures, and it shows that He is compassionate toward us when we must wait for him for what would seem to us like a long time.
We may feel like God has forgotten us sometimes or feel like He’s hiding from us. He knows that as He patiently works out His purposes, we will experience circumstances so difficult and confusing that we cry out in bewildered pain, I know the feeling very well.
God not only gives us stories like Abraham and Sarah to help us see that we are not alone; He also gives us songs like Psalm 13 to sing. How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? Good news, the Lord is not hiding from you, He’s not purposely delaying Himself over your matter nor is He indifferent to your cry.
It does not matter how long it takes, hold on, wait on and keep calm and keep praying.
Shalom