Habakkuk 2:1  “I will stand my watch…And watch to see what He will say to me…”
After questioning God about the answer he received, Habakkuk says he’s going to just wait and see what God says.  He expects a rebuke of some sort for the audacity of questioning God.  Wonder what God saw in his heart.  Sometimes our questions don’t really reflect a doubting spirit, just a desire to understand.  God answers according to what He can see.

2  “…That he may run who reads it”
Whoever reads it will understand it and be able to act on it.

3  “…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”
Vision of the future.  But it is totally true.  May take a while, but it will come.  Seeming contradiction, though it tarries, it will not tarry.  But I think the first is saying it may be a while before the appointed time arrives, while the second is saying once it starts it will not tarry to complete itself.  Reminds of Daniel, visions yet for an appointed time.

4  “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.”
Contrast of the proud and the just.  His pride has him trusting in himself.  The just empties himself of pride so he can trust in God and not in himself.  Trust in the Lord will all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

5  “…he enlarges his desire as hell…he is like death, and cannot be satisfied…”
Hell never gets full.  Always room for another.  Death is the same.  Never says it has enough, no more has to die.  Proverbs 30.  Four things that never say enough.  Grave, barren womb, dry earth, and fire.  Babylon is like that, or the leader.

7  “Will not your creditors rise up suddenly?  Will they not awaken who oppress you?  And you will become their booty.”
Babylon will conquer so many other lands, eventually someone will come against them.  What they have been doing to others will be done to them.  Happened years later when the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon.

10  “You give shameful counsel to your house, Cutting off many peoples, And sin against your soul.”
Setting yourself up to fall by lying in wait for others.  Reminds of the Proverbs.  Don’t throw in with the wicked.  They lie in wait for blood of the innocent.  They set themselves up for destruction.

18-20  “What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it…in it there is no breath at all…But the LORD is in His holy temple…”
Babylon builds its kingdom on conquest and bloodshed, therefore, it will not last.  Only those kingdoms built on trust in the Lord will last.  He will be exalted throughout the earth.  Relying on false gods is foolishness.  They aren’t real.  They’re only chunks of wood and metal.  They aren’t alive as the true God is.  He is alive, He is on His throne, and He is over all.  It’s not going to make any difference how strong Babylon is, when God is finished with them, He will destroy their kingdom.

I hope you enjoy reading and studying His word.  May it accomplish what He desires.  Please feel free to comment or post questions.  Thanks for reading!

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.