Waiting For the God Who Won't Come Through

The Minor Prophets: Habakkuk
Insights I take from reading through the minor prophets

Waiting For the God Who Won't Come Through
A Lesson from Habakkuk

I'm really not good at waiting. Last night, Deb and I were waiting to be seated at a restaurant and I asked Deb if she wanted to look at the restaurant menu so we could order right when we got seated. She promptly replied, "No, I want to take my time." I was flabbergasted! The truth is, I'm just not the "waiting" type of guy. Maybe I get it from the culture of fast-food service and high speed internet wikipedia/google life around me. Maybe its because I wear a watch. Either way the fact remains: I get sick of waiting quick.

I'm sick of waiting for Jesus to come back too.

You read it in the Bible: it's all, waiting for Him to make all things right again. "Oo, He's coming soon!" they say, but its always later than expected. We're still waiting. Still waiting for that 2nd coming of Jesus for Him to show the whole world His glory (Hab 2:14). Yet its "waiting" that is the answer to Habbakuk's cry for justice. Just ... to wait.

In Habakkuk, God's people (Judah) are being persecuted. Kings like Manasseh were effectively leading God's people to dishonor God whole-heartedly. And finally, their collective sins have caught up with them. Babylon is on their tale. And Habakkuk feels distressed for his people, for Judah, and calls out, "How long o Lord must I call for help? But you do not listen!" (1:2). Where is God when His people are being so heavily hurt? And God surprisingly, amply replies to His servant, Habakkuk: "Look around at the nations, look and be amazed for I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn't believe even if someone told you about it ..." (1:5-6). Now, at this, I imagine Habakkuk was pretty excited. I mean, what is God gonna do for His people, what is this amazing thing He speaks of!? And God tells Habakkuk: "I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and violent people." Raising up the Babylonians? Are you sure you don't want to level them down completely? Instead of helping God's people Judah, instead God tells Habakkuk that He's using and raising up the power of Judah's sinful enemy, Babylon, to completely destroy Judah ... WHERE IS THE JUSTICE IN THAT?

Not only is God seemingly absent from Judah's cry for help, He's completely against them, raising up a terrible enemy to destroy them. And Judah does get destroyed, in 586 BC. What devastating news. Habakkuk tearfully replies, "Will you let them get away with this forever? Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests?" Thank God, the answer is no. There will be a future time, a future end, where all God's promises will be fulfilled and He will redeem and love His people, God's enemies will receive their cumuppins ...just ... not yet. For now ... wait.

That answer drives me nuts. Like I said, I hate waiting. But its the only answer God's people are given. God basically is saying, "Yes there's injustice. Yes there's terrible things in the world. Yes, you will be persecuted. Yes, it will all be done by my sovereign will. No you won't get justice now, you'll have ... to wait."

Habakkuk didn't get the answer he was looking for. He didn't get God saying, "Okay, I'll help you." The answer Habakkuk got was a vision (2:3) of a time when God would make all things right again, when the entire planet of earth would be filled with an awareness of the glory of God (2:14). The only reason God's waiting is so more people have time to repent and be saved (2 Pet 3:9).

I can't imagine how frustrated I would be if I were in Habakkuk's shoes. Nothing changed for Habakkuk, doom still came to his door. and at that moment, God was seemingly silent to his pleas for help. God would do nothing to help His people at that time.

It frustrates me because I run into times where I want God to make things right. Like ... now.
I didn't want my friend's father to die terribly from cancer
I didn't want this youth to be so unloved by their family at this juncture
I didn't want my brother and his wife have to go through a miscarriage.
I didn't want this youth to have a father that doesn't care for them
I didn't want ... any of this. I prayed for all these people, that God would step in and do something completely amazing, that God would listen to the prayers of the righteous and respond with action, that God would intervene. That He would change things. That He would make miracles. That He would DO WHAT I WANT!

But God doesn't always do miracles. God doesn't always listen to peoples' cries. God doesn't always save His own ... people ... at the time they believe they need saving. God sometimes ... is silent. Not to respond. But to respond the way we want. We are often not listening to God's response. We may be praying for years that God would save Judah, when in actuality, He's been telling us all along He's destroying Judah with Babylon. Sometimes, God wants us to simply wait ... my prayers for those people weren't answered the way I want ... and it may be, that I may have to just wait till God makes things right again ... whenever that is.

And i'd love nothing more to to leave God completely, because I don't want to wait. What worth is God when He doesn't come through when you want Him and when you need Him? Why wait for the God who won't come through? That's the question that was in Habakkuk's heart and God graciously gave Him a vision of when He would make all things right again ... just that he'll have to wait for it to happen. This is Habakkuk's response. It astounds me completely ... and it makes me believe that maybe I can wait too ... even if I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. Habbakuk says,

"I will wait quietly for the coming day ...
even though the fig trees have no blossoms and there are no grapes on the vines
even though the olive crop fails and the fields lie empty and barren
even though the flocks die in the fields and the cattle barns are empty
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The sovereign Lord is my strength." (3:16-19)

Okay God, I'll wait. I'll wait for you to come again though sometimes I'm not even sure I believe it. Help me in my unbelief. Help me to believe that you will make all things right
even though families all around me are being killed by cancer and there is nothing I can say to comfort them
even though youth in my church are hurting because they're in terrible family situations and there's nowhere else I can take them
even though some prayers seem to fall on deaf ears. help me to wait. to not only trust in you. But to rejoice in you. In the Lord who both gives and takes away. Help me to find joy in you, in the God who has spared me from Hell though I don't deserve it. Lord, be my strength. Lord, be my strength. Be my strength.

Amen.