Habakkuk 1:2 The Embrace Of Faith part 2

The Perplexity Of Faith v. 2   (Faith’s ironies)

There is a baffling mystery in the incomprehensibility of prayer, God, can seem so opaque.  We get so overloaded in a murky cloud, the Lord feels inaccessible and distant.

But prayer often begins in a complaint.  We’re plagued by disorder, a stinging grievance, so we grumble and moan in protesting objections. We whimper and sob, where are you, why is this happening?  There’s the sting of unfairness, the bite of unreasonableness and the grind of irrationality.    

  The Delays of God v.2 O LORD, how long shall I cry

Alter our schedule to agree with Your timing

Spouting off at God, spurting out our frustrations with His scheduling, jumping up and down at Him, aggravated with His tardy delays isn’t always as rude as it appears.

Faith is not some stoic, passive apathy, where we’re just dopey, and docile, with every disgusting postponement of our inner anticipations.  We should agonize to Him for our longed for expectations. 

If God places the passion in us, then we should fight on in prayer, soaked in craving conviction.  We’re too, stagger not at the promise of God through unbelief, but be strong in faith, giving glory to God.  Tenacity, persistence and even obstinate resolve before the Lord, is a proclamation of His worth and the attractiveness of His value. 

It’s a waste to beat around the bush with God.  There is no sense in sparing His ears.  We need to cry louder and scream our need to Him.  We are called to His sovereign throne to assail His righteousness.  It’s appropriate to storm the court of His perfection with demands for His power to rain down on all our injustices and the wrongs that surround us.   

  The Deafness Of God   and thou wilt not hear!

Assure our doubts by adjustments to Your sensibilities 

We need to seek the heart of God. We have to find His sensibilities and explore how He really feels.  What is it that brings a response from the throne of grace? 

There is a capacity of deep feeling in the Spirit of Christ and tender compassion where we can feel His inner sympathies and know our burdens are from Him and special to His heart.

He’s not deaf, what seems to be unresponsiveness is not divine indifference as though our heartaches we’re meaningless and irrelevant.  There not!  He’s promised in all our afflictions He’s afflicted and He remembers in deep pathos the wormwood and the gall.

 The Disappearance of God even cry out unto thee of violence,

                                                              and thou wilt not save!

Adjust our emotions to agree with Your constant appearances.  Develop in us the purity to see only You

When You appear to disappear, show us how You’re drawing us into Your appearance 

Why does God rub our face in the sin of those we love so deeply?  Why so much devastation, pain and bashing of our little ones who we knew as tender babies?  Why so much viciousness, and selfish debauchery?  Why is God’s Word defied and ignored and how long will our loved ones exploit His design? Integrity is not defended; we get wrung out by surrounding deception and cheating exploitation.

Habakkuk seems to accuse God of ignoring it all, of doing nothing about it, and he’s demanding action.

God will act, He is involved, His love and ways are intricate and complex and He wants us to cast our every care and frustration on Him.

God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea,

And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines

Of never-failing skill

He treasures up His bright designs,

And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy, and shall break

In blessings on your head

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan his work in vain;

God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain.