18/08/2009 by John Marsden.

QUESTION: Have you ever prayed that God would do something that was very important to you, but it felt like He was taking forever to answer you? If so, what was your response? Keep praying? Get mad at Him? Give up?

• The book of the prophet Habakkuk is a very interesting one. In it we see a man who poured out his heart before God about something that greatly disturbed him. He was bold with his words to God and expected God to answer him.

Habakkuk 1:2-4 

How long, O LORD, must I call for help,             but you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!”

            but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice?             Why do you tolerate wrong?Destruction and violence are before me;             there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed,             and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous,             so that justice is perverted. 

• In the book of Habakkuk, we read about Habakkuk’s annoyance that his fellow Israelites were ignoring God’s commands and neglecting the needs of those who were weak and poor. They were violent, injust, wrong, destructive, and wicked according to these verses.
• Habakkuk didn’t just whine and wallow in sorrow about what was going on; he approached God boldly and asked Him why this was happening and why He wasn’t doing anything about it. He was stirred in his spirit because he was zealous for God and angry at his fellow countrymen who had rejected Him.
• As we read on, we learn that God did not rebuke or condemn Habakkuk for his honesty and sincere questions. God wants us to be completely honest with him—not whine or vent at Him—He wants our hearts to be His completely, where we come to Him with righteous frustrations and heartfelt desires to see things made right.

POUR OUT YOUR HEART 

Habakkuk was Confused

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.  Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?  Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? Habakkuk 1:13

• Habakkuk knew that God was righteous, holy, and completely pure. He knew that God would punish the wicked and deliver the oppressed. But to his natural eye, Habakkuk could only see things getting worse around him.
• Instead of cursing God and turning away from Him, he questioned God. “Why do you tolerate this evil, Lord?” He couldn’t understand why God would seem to let these bad things happen and not do anything about them.
• Habakkuk’s questioning turned into intercession, standing in the gap for those who were oppressed and against those who were wicked and would not repent.
• By including these verses in Habakkuk, God wants us to see that it’s normal to question what’s going on around us when it does not line up with God’s Word. When we see that happening, He wants us to run to Him and pray to Him to change things. He has given us that power to pray heaven down to earth as His sons and daughters through Jesus.

Habakkuk was Bothered

Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Habakkuk 1:3

• In these verses, we see Habakkuk’s annoyance that things are not happening according to God’s will and according to the way He has layed things out in His Word.
• He knows that God has promised to destroy the wicked and rescue the righteous and punish those who reject Him, but he’s not seeing it happen with his eyes, so he get bothered.
• His anger is a righteous anger, as he is jealous for the name of God and the law of God. Therefore, he goes before God with a humble, yet bold, attitude asking God to look upon everything that’s going on and make things right, according to what He’s spoken in His word.

Habakkuk was not Holding Back

…pour out your heart like water  in the presence of the Lord. Lamentations 2:19

• This verse comes in the book of Lamentations, where the writer (probably Jeremiah) composes a “lament,” or sad song about what has happened to the people of Judah. They rejected and rebelled against God, refused to repent, were invaded and taken captive to a foreign land, and were unable to worship God in the manner He had prescribed.
• Although we are instructed in the New Testament to rejoice always in the Lord, there are times when we are also distraught about the things happening to or around us. When the natural world does not line up with what God has spoken, it should bother us and move us to approach God about the matter—not in pride or arrogance, but in humility and reverence.
• Just as God gets angry at sin and its consequences in the world, if we have His heart in us, we should also get angry at the things that bother Him. Then we can approach God in fear AND boldness and pray that He would move on our behalf and on behalf of those around us. God doesn’t expect us to just be polite and religious; He wants us real and earnest and passionate.

BOLDNESS BEFORE GOD 

Because of His Right Heart

O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. Habakkuk 1:12

As mentioned before, we do not come before God pridefully or accusing Him of wrongdoing, but we come with a right heart: a humble and broken heart that also is steadfast in its faith in God.

• Habakkuk loved God and was zealous for His law to be followed. He was bothered when people sinned, just as God is. He came before God with right motives, to see things made right in the world around Him and to see God exalted once again.
• When our hearts and motives are right before God, we can approach Him boldly.

Because of Faith

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16

·         This is a promise we have and can claim any time we need to come before God in prayer. If we are right with God and are praying for the right reasons—not just so we can be cool or respected or get more stuff—we can approach Him in faith and confidence that He hears and answers us.·         Whether we come before Him for forgiveness or seeking a personal petition or on behalf of another person or group of people, we can be sure that He hears, will have mercy on us, and will grant us what we need.·         Habakkuk loved God and believed that He was good and faithful to His word. He was able to approach God confidently, then, with his complaint because He knew that God would act on his behalf.
EXPECT A RESPONSE 

He Waited Patiently

I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts…Habakkuk 2:1

• Not only did Habakkuk present his complaint confidently before God, he also expected that God would act righteously in response to his prayer.
• When our prayers and requests line up with God’s will and His word, we can be sure of God’s answer. Sometimes we need to keep pressing in to Him, but we do so expectantly, knowing that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
• In light of this knowledge, we wait upon God and listen for His response, just as Habakkuk did. And God answered him.

He was Ready to Obey

I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Habakkuk 2:1

• When we pray and ask God to do something for us or for others, we must be ready to listen for His response.
• Not only that, we must be ready to act in obedience if He tells us to do something in order to bring about the answer to our prayer.
• Habakkuk waited patiently on God after pouring out his heart before Him, and he was ready to see what God would say and if he needed to do anything further about it.

Have a great day

John

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