Hard Questions
Habakkuk was a prophet who boldly confronted God with some difficult questions.
- LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?
- How long shall I cry to You “Violence!” and You will not save?
- Why do You make me see iniquity (for my minor hang ups), but sit idly looking at the mega-wrongs of wicked people?
- Why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up a man more righteous than he?
- Is mankind like the fish of the sea that You catch with Your net and then You worship the net because it made You wealthy?
- Can we expect that You will keep emptying the net and mercilessly killing nations forever?
God answered Habakkuk’s bold questions revealing a new understanding of His love and His power. Habakkuk concludes his book with a prayer of triumph and praise. With questions answered and a new perspective of God’s love and power.
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Others in the Bible has struggled with feeling forsaken by God.
The prophet Jeremiah wrote:
Lamentations
3:8 (NKJV) Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer.
The psalmist David wrote:
Psalm
13:1 (NKJV) How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You
hide Your face from me?
The blameless and upright Job struggled as well:
Job
30:20 (NKJV) I cry out to You, but You do not answer me.
Even Jesus, from the cross, cried out with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” At some point, we may all wrestle with God about something we don’t quite understand, but we have been given permission to approach the throne of grace and ask God about it.
James 1:5-6 NKJV If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
Hebrews 4:15-16 NKJV For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses (because He too was acquainted with grief), and was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
A Greater Purpose
Immediately after the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus told His disciples to get in the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to Bethsaida.
Jesus withdrew to a mountain to pray. In the middle of the night, He saw them straining at keeping control of the boat because they were rowing against a strong windstorm. The disciples had fought this storm for 8 or 9 hours and it was about 3:00 in the morning but they were only about halfway across the sea. By this time, they must have been in a state of complete exhaustion and despondency, bordering on despair. At long last, Jesus went to their assistance, walking on the sea. Jesus caused the wind to cease and got in the boat with them. The disciples came and worshiped Jesus saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.” The arm of the Lord had been revealed to them and they worshiped God.
The reason He put them through all of this was because of their hardness of heart. They had not understood about the fish and loaves, but they marveled and was greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure when they saw the miracle of the wind and waves being ceased by Jesus… and also Peter walking on the water. This experience affected them to the point of death and they marveled… but they did not marvel over the fish and loaves.
Mark 6:52 NKJV They had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.
Jesus did not put them through this 9-hour ordeal for nothing, it had a greater purpose. The bread of adversity and the water of affliction are life lessons that God sends to teach us, and to transform us.
Isaiah 30:20 NKJV And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers.
Ecclesiastes 8:6 Because for every matter there is a time and judgment, although man’s trouble lies heavy on him.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.
Jeremiah’s Questions
Jeremiah 14:8-9 NKJV O the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble, why should You be like a stranger in the land, and like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night? Why should You be like a man astonished, like a mighty one who cannot save? Yet You, O LORD, are in our midst, and we are called by Your name; do not leave us!
We accuse God of acting like a stranger and ignoring our prayers, but He is no stranger, and He is not far away while we’re going through. In fact, the psalmist David said to the Lord his God, “Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” We cannot count that high because it’s infinity.
Conclusion
The problem is not with God and His ways, but with our limited understanding of Him.
Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Trusting God leads us to quiet hope, not to animosity.
God still controls this world despite the apparent triumph of evil. Satan said there was a hedge around Job (a blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil), and Satan couldn’t touch Job unless God removed the hedge from around Job, and his household, and all his possessions.
The king of Syria sent horses and chariots and a great army to Dothan to capture the prophet, Elisha. His servant was panicking and sought what they should do. Elisha answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Elisha petitioned “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. God is still in control and He delivered them from the Syrian army.
Jesus has the keys of the kingdom of heaven. He has the key of David. He opens doors that no one can shut. He shuts doors that no one can open. He has the key to the bottomless pit that He can lock and unlock when He’s good and ready.
The farmer sows seed and waits patiently for harvest until it receives both the early and latter rain. I’ve sown many seeds of prayer and have yet to see the manifestation of a lot of them. But I must trust and believe God has heard all my prayers and inclined His ears to my cries and my petitions.
God has a plan, and He will faithfully carry it out. We can be confident that God loves us and is guarding our relationship with Him. We don’t have to be offended. God has devised a plan. His counsel will stand, and our seeds of prayer will harvest.
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
The effective, fervent prayers of the righteous avails (helps, benefits, and profits) much.
Question: What should our attitude be after we pray, and as we wait for God to answer?
Answer: We should trust God to give us what we need, but maybe not in a way we expect him to. We should remember that God really does love us and is concerned about everything that concerns us. Ask Holy Spirit for ears to hear. Look in God’s word and see where the arm of the Lord helped someone else in a similar situation because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Keep telling yourself that story on a regular basis until you have reconciled in your heart that God is truly faithful, reliable, trustworthy, dependable, and ever true to His promises. Convince yourself from the study of His word in that area that there is no way He will let you down. Ask God for wisdom concerning it.
In God’s response to the prophet Habakkuk’s difficult questions, He said that the vision will surely come to pass at its appointed time. All things hasten to an end. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come to pass. Your prayers matter to God.
Click here to go to the Our Prayers Matter Series
Dee Richardson, Voice of the Dove