A friend recently counselled when dealing with pain “Be real”.
As a Christian who firmly believes in the sovereignty of
Almighty God, I confess I sometimes find this difficult. Knowing that God is in
control and allows all things for His glory and His purposes, I so often push
aside my pain and ask God to give me the strength to deal with the situation
that He has ordained.
I want to jump straight in and shout out Habbakuk’s cry of
faith
“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on
the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though
there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice
in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.”
(Hab 3:17-18).
I have been redirected to the opening chapters of Habbakuk.
Back up. I have been redirected to considering what the name
Habbakuk means. To “embrace” or “wrestle”. Here is a prophet who wrestled with
God.
And how he wrestled with God in laying bare his heart in
verses 2-4 of the opening chapter. “How long?” ;“you do not listen”; “you do
not save”.
This is no angry fist-waving, which God forbid we ever do!
These are words of a man who has a clear understanding of the nature and
character of God. He knows God is a God who listens, who saves, who is a God of
justice, does not tolerate wrong, who punishes the wicked and ensures that
righteousness prevails. He also has a clear understanding of the wickedness and
injustice of the situation he sees around him. These are the words of a man who
understands that our God is a relational God, a personal God, a God who says to
Isaiah “come now, let us reason together” (Isa 1:18). A God who says “I no
longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s
business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from
my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). Abraham was a friend of God (Isa
41:8), and the LORD would speak with Moses “face to face, as a man speaks with
his friend” (Ex 33:11). All these men understood the Holiness of God. They also
understood that is only through being honest about their lack of understanding
that they could hope to understand more of His ways.
Maybe I’ve been content with my lack of understanding.
I’m starting to see that by faith, there is something more.
Ask, seek, knock. If you lack wisdom, ask God.
Habbakuk wasn’t criticised for his questions. The LORD
stooped to answer him. Yet the answer Habbakuk received grieved him mightily. “I
heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my
bones and my legs trembled” (Hab 3:16). When we have the faith to seek to
understand more of God, we will receive greater understanding of His awesome
nature. It may increase our mourning, our lament. Our heart and our flesh may
fail – BUT GOD is the strength of our hearts and our portion forever. And it is
He who will give us the strength to shout out with all of our heart, mind and
soul Habakkuk’s cry of faith.