Habakkuk's First Prayer

The oracle that Habbakuk the prophet saw.
(Start of the prayer)
How long, LORD, must I call for help and You do not listen, or cry out to You about violence and You do not save?
Why do You force me to look at injustice?  Why do You tolerate wrongdoing?  Oppression and voilence are right in front of me.  Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.
This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges.  For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.
-Habakkuk 1:1-4 (HCSB)

Habakkuk really was having a hard time here.  This is obviously a familiar prayer for most of us, not because we’ve read this passage before, but because we’ve been there.  We know what it’s like to look up to the heavens with a pain in our hearts, asking God why He’s done what He’s done.  We get caught up in our situations and all we can do is question.

Most people you ask have never heard of the book of Habakkuk, which is sad, since it’s probably one of the most practical books they can read concerning their lives.  When you’re going through hard times, everyone always references Job, the guy who had everything, lost everything, and had a spiritual encounter with God, which brought Job a new life essentially.  For many of us that’s harder to relate to.  We haven’t had our entire family wiped out in short time span.  We haven’t lost everything we own, left with nothing but boils and a few friends whose words aren’t adequate in stopping our pain.  Most of us simply see how evil the world is becoming, how wicked the leaders of the nations are, how hard it is to bear when we see the wrongdoings of our neighbors.  That’s not to say we don’t do anything wrong, but it seems like when we’re trying to do better we see that the things we have struggled to turn from are a frivolous pastime for our friends.

Habakkuk knew this pain.  Apparently, he had been asking God about the iniquity in the world for a while.  He asked God how long he had to call for help, and he even goes as far as to say that God has not been listening.

That’s bold.

To say that God hasn’t been listening to you is a bold claim.  Why would God be willing to help you if all your gonna do is question whether or not He has His listening ears on?  Maybe He is listening, you know?  But when we’re all jacked up on pain, we don’t think of these things.  We just want results.  We say “OK God, give it up.  Why are you treatin’ us all like garbage?!”  Instead of having reverence for God we talk to Him like we’re some kind of thug.

Habakkuk saw a bunch of violence going on around him (I’ll clarify what exactly was going on in later blogs) and he felt that God couldn’t hear him over what was going on.  He wanted to be saved from what was going on.  He wanted to be safe in a time of peril.  He doesn’t seem to want that kind of salvation we all think of, you know, the life-altering come to Jesus kind?  He wants that quick and easy, “God’s a genie and I’m gonna ask for whatever I want” kind. 

Now, I’m not writing this blog as a downer or anything.  I know in my life I’ve had these times where you just ask for help.  You don’t necessarily want a total rescue form the situation, but you want guidance on what decisions to make.  You wait anxiously, like Ralphie in A Christmas Story waiting for the “Little Orphan Annie” show to come on the radio.  You don’t hear anything for a long time, and you get bummed out.  It bites, quite honestly.  God, you’re best friend, you’re go-to-guy, seems like He’s gone.  You feel alone, weak, deprived of the very substance that kept you going.  Where do you go from here?

Habakkuk didn’t even wanna look at the things going on around him.  It was too much for him in his opinion.  He couldn’t handle it.  He was stressed out, flung into despair.  He questioned God’s following of His own Word, because God didn’t seem to be punishing the wrongdoing that was going on.  When we question whether or not God is following His Word, we’re not only questioning God’s integrity, but we’re also raising other people’s awareness to our ignorance (stupidity seemed like too much of a harsh word.)  How can we ask whether or not God is following His own Word, His own Law, if He established it and spoke it?!  That’s ridiculous!!

The summation of Habakkuk’s first prayer is the Christian low-point: it’s the point you never wanna reach, but when you do you feel like an unbeliever again.  Habakkuk told God that “the law is ineffective and justice never emerges.  For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.”  Whoa now!  That’s a bold statement for the One who created you!  How can you say you love God when you rebuke Him like He’s your child?  How can you, being the son or daughter, take such a tone with your Father?

This part strikes me in a personal way.  I am known for having a smart mouth, for lack of a better phrase.  I’m really ignorant to it, due to the fact that I never think the things I say are bad.  I’ve struggled with this for years, and to be honest, I went through a period where I couldn’t talk to some of my family for fear that I’d get in trouble for stepping out of line with my words.  Habakkuk’s ending of his prayer is not our “God bless everybody, Amen” style prayer.  He closes with bitterness and a statement that calls God’s Law ineffective and calls justice perverted!  I pray that I would never end a prayer like this.  I hope that you would too, because God should be respected in the same manner, if not more so, as your parents.  He created you!  He tries constantly to help you!  He sent Jesus to die for you!  Why would you end a prayer by saying that justice was perverted?

If you really wanna dig deep into the last part of this prayer, you’ll see something extraordinary.  If Habakkuk wanted true justice, God could’ve sent him to Hell with all the other sinners.  That’s true justice!  I praise God for forgiving us of our sins, for if He did not we would end up in Hell.  That’s true justice!  We’ve all done so wrong in His eyes, and the proper treatment is Hell.  Thankfully we have a merciful God who planned on Jesus coming to die on a cross and conquer sin for our benefit.  That’s why Jesus came!  He wanted to mend the relationship we broke!  God loves us!

I know this is long, but I only seek to help us all see the irrationality of getting angry with God when iniquity is all around us.  It’s in us too, and He’s willing to forgive us if we ask.  We have to pray diligently sometimes, asking for the same thing and not hearing anything from Him.  But that’s OK.  The Bible clearly states that He will hear us, but we must ask for forgiveness of the iniquity and get rid of it in our lives.  Psalm 66 calls God’s people to listen. It says:

Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me.  I cried out to Him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue.  If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer.  Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love for me!

Psalm 66:16- 20 (HCSB)

Cry out to Jesus.  Let Him know what sorrows you have, but beforehand ask for forgiveness for your sins.  You will find that God is more willing to answer when you’ve done so.

The next blog will be on God’s response to Habakkuk’s prayer.  I pray that you’ve come to understand something as a result of studying this passage of Scripture.

Your Brother in Christ,

Phillip