Habakkuk's Appeal To God’s Character

His question, Are you not from everlasting? did not reveal his lack of knowing God. By referring to God as O Lord my God, he expressed his personal faith in him. He believed him to be everlasting, meaning that he is eternal, having no beginning or end, always having been in existence, totally self-sufficient, and not being dependent upon anyone or anything.

Habakkuk described God as being my Holy One showing that he is perfect, pure, spotless, and undefiled. Knowing this about God would have helped him to understand that what he had planned to do with his people was in accordance with his righteous character.

The word ordained means that it was his sovereign will to raise up the Babylonians to inflict his judgment upon his people. He was to use this angry nation to rebuke his people.

Although God was going to judge his people, he would not destroy them all as expressed in the words we shall not die. Habakkuk was confident that God would not allow all his people to be totally wiped out by the Babylonians because of him being their Rock. This name referred to him as being steadfast, immovable, stable, and firm and unchanging in nature. It confirmed that his promise to save a remnant would be kept.