Why, God?

November 17, 2024

Habakkuk 1:1-4 (NASB95): “1 The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw. 2 How long, O Lord, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, “Violence!” Yet You do not save. 3 Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises. 4 Therefore the law is ignored And justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes out perverted.”

I once heard a story from a teacher of mine. The story goes that as he was teaching and referenced this part of Habakkuk, he asked a question to the class. His question was “Have any of you prayed in this way?”. And a couple of hands went up, indicating that they had. My teacher’s response was “No you didn’t! Nobody prays like that!”. While I tend to believe that we don’t pray like this often (if at all), I believe we can certainly think things like this at times. 

Do we truly believe that our prayers are being heard? Do we truly understand prayer? There are instances in the world that can bring us to questioning things like this. Maybe it is the death of a loved one, maybe it is a tragedy of some kind to our nation, maybe you’re just hurt in some way, or you see someone you love being hurt in some way. Those moments can provoke human reactions that can make you question how God really works, if he works at all. 

I think the question of prayer and its effectiveness really comes out in times as described in Habakkuk 1:3- times of strife and contention. But I believe that this is a question that can be answered from the book of James. When we have doubts in prayer, when we see others prosper and prevail over us in this world, James directs the readers upward. James 1:2-3 says “2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”. God never said that there would not be hard times. In fact, here in James He says the opposite! 

So yes, there are going to be trials of various kinds. Trials where our faith is tested. Trials where belief in the workings of God are tested. But in those trials, even as Habakkuk was experiencing with the Chaldeans, we can know that God is with us, because He Himself reassures us that He is! He knows our trials. He came down and experienced them Himself in Jesus. But we can count it all joy when we have these times of doubt, because we will gain endurance through it! 

And you can rest assured: Even if you are not delivered in this life from the aforementioned trials, you will most certainly be delivered in the next!

Written by: Mason MacDonald

 

Bibliography:

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995)