A Call with No Answer ~ Habakkuk 1

“How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not hear?” Habakkuk 1:2

I picked up the phone, the important message in my mind ringing throughout my being before it ever rang the other’s phone. A message, that in my mind, was of the utmost importance in my day. I needed this issue addressed and addressed in the moment. Yet as I continued to mentally toss the idea in my mind, the other’s phone simply rang and rang. Where were they? They said they would be there, and in this moment, I really need them to aid me in the solution of this great need. I terminated the call and dialed again, this time knowing that they would answer. Yet only the same results greeted me, empty space interspersed by that seemingly endless sound bite we all know as ringing. Over and over I repeated this process, hoping each time with renewed fervor that the results would be different, yet each time I left the call feeling more defeated than before. Finally, with the thought bigger than ever in my mind, I tossed my phone on the table and left the room. I needed space and distance from this issue, I decided to go somewhere where possibly I could sort all this out on my own, without the help that I felt had sorely let me down. And as I walked out, slamming the front door and frustratingly walking out into the distance…the phone loudly rang out…in my absence.

Habakkuk was a prophet with a question mark for a heart. He not so much delivers the very words of God, as the other Old Testament prophets do, but worked in reverse. He observed the world around him and then aggressively petitioned the Lord for answers about what he witnessed. And as God answered Him, we receive a prophetic message not simply about God’s works, but rather how God works. And Habakkuk didn’t just ask the simple questions, he asked the difficult. Why do you not punish the sinful in this day Lord? God, why do you allow the good to suffer at the hands of the evil? God, why do you allow bad leaders to lead your people in bad directions? But Habakkuk starts out his little 3 chapter book with a real heavy-hitter. One I believe is at the very beginning of the book for a reason because it is one of the biggest questions that mankind has proposed to God since God first placed man on this big green orb. Lord, when I desperately call out to you for help in my time of great need, why do you not answer?

I feel the issue with truly analyzing this great question is not a query of space and time, or the ability or the willingness of God, but rather one of capacity. That is human mental capacity. The average human on the planet today has an intelligence quotient (I.Q.) of between 85 and 115 with 68% of all IQ scores falling within one standard deviation of the mean. This clearly defines the mental processing capability of modern mankind. But to make it more clear, consider this analogy. We are all simply carrying buckets that will only hold so much water. And as we attempt to process Almighty God, His ways, His purpose, and His plan, well, our buckets fall dreadfully short of His. And as we cry out to Him in our despair, grief, and pain and cannot fully comprehend why He is doing what He is doing, are we not simply assuming that our bucket is bigger than or equal to God’s? Are we not subliminally implying that in our desperate situation, we in that dire moment, know just how God should be reacting? Or maybe that with our trusty bucket in hand we even know more about the timetable in which He should be operating with us? You see, God’s bucket is immeasurably undefined. Time to God stretches from one coast of infinity to the other coast of eternity. God sees from the point of His creation to an undefinable eternal end point. God knows all, has already planned all, and sees the minute details of every one of those plans. And within those plans, God’s plan is perfect for every single one of us. And these lives that we live? Our lives are merely metered days spent reacting to and navigating the perfect plan of God using only His Holy Spirit and the bucket we hold in our hand.

It’s curious to me that circa 1448 AD as ancient Greek scribes assigned chapter and verse to God’s Word, that they decided to conclude chapter 1 of Habakkuk where they did. It seems perfect to include the first verse of chapter 2 as the conclusion to chapter 1. Why? Well, because there we find Habakkuk offer a splendid answer to his own very question of when God would answer him.

“I will take my stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.” Habakkuk 2:1

Habakkuk in this glorious response, provides for us the posture that we are to adopt after we petition the Lord in prayer. Somewhere between verse one of chapter one and verse one of chapter two, I think Habakkuk did a lot of looking at the size of his bucket. And he realized that the bucket God wields is by far supreme to all. And in the opposite of our phone call object lesson above, you see that Habakkuk did not drop the phone in disgust when God did not answer him as he thought He should, but he did just the opposite. Instead of angrily fleeing the Lord because he did not get the answer he wanted in the timeframe he desired, he instead manned his post, eagerly awaiting and looking for a response from the Lord. Instead of withdrawing to a dark corner to brood, he instead made haste to the highest rampart where he would be sure to get a glimpse of the Lord’s answer as soon as it crested his horizon. And in the part that gives me goosebumps, Habakkuk now fully realizing his limited human mental capacities, openly admits that when he does receive God’s answer, he will see how limited his human vision was. And in this humble posture before the Lord, he will openly receive the necessary correction for ever questioning God’s omnisciently perfect plan in the first place.

Today, child of God that has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, I want to encourage you from this passage in Habakkuk. Whatever cries may be escaping your lips to the Lord today, rest assured they are being heard by your heavenly Father. A heavenly Father that loves you and cares for you more than your bucket can ever explain or define. And even when that phone seems to be ringing and ringing without due attention, rest assured, the call will come in to answer your prayer. And as you wait for your answer, man your post, be diligently on the lookout while manning your tower. For in His perfect timing and in His perfect way, God is constantly answering the prayers of those He calls His own.

As you pray for others, rest assured, you are being prayed for in this day ~ Dan

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Colossians 4:2

“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” Luke 18:1

sunset fishing, Cozumel Island, Quintana Roo, Mexico