Be Astonished!

“How long, LORD, must I call for help and you do not listen or cry out to you…and you do not save? Why do you force me to look…” Habakkuk 1:2-3

I have several precious friends going through very difficult times right now. One has been an in-home caregiver to a parent for over 3 years, and the other is facing a mountain of legal and financial challenges regarding past circumstances. I find myself with a heart plea just like Habakkuk. ‘Lord, how long do they have to walk this journey? Why are they forced to continue on the same trajectory that seems to be empty of resolution? Why can’t resources open up? Why can’t things be settled? Why must suffering continue? When will you resolve these things, so their hearts and minds can finally rest?'

I have my own circumstances that frame how long and why not. Yet the very thing that calls my heart back to Him is confidence that He is doing something grander than any ideas I have. I also have gratitude for the prayers that He has answered. Those yeses that gave way to celebration…those no’s that invoked deep gratitude for greater wisdom…those maybe’s that keep my hope alive. I am certain that you too have your own ‘how long’ and ‘why’ questions. The Book of Habakkuk is a beautiful book of prayers from a pleading heart, and responses from a gracious and merciful God. It is a melodious symphony of a heart needing comforting, and a God who is a Comforter. God didn’t get angry that this man questioned His ways and timing. He didn’t judge him for his weakness. God wasn’t irritated with his impatience. God understood the heart of this man, and God understands our hearts when we hurt…when we are scared…when we are exhausted.

God listened then and God still listens now. He has a perfect plan for every situation we will face, and He has a string of events that must occur before our circumstances change. Even when things are not changing in our circumstances, our hearts are changing because we are more dependent on God. He holds the answers, He determines the timing and He blows our minds when the resolutions finally come. We can be fully confident that when our circumstances resolve, we will be able to trace His fingerprints through it all. ‘He’s received your questions with grace too – even the questions that remain tucked inside your heart, unshared, unspoken, unwritten. In His vast kindness towards us, in His knowledge of our frailty, God lets us ask our questions…A wider vision changes everything. If we are looking – I mean really looking – we’ll see the traces of God’s hand all around us. Already speaking, already moving, already working things into the shape of His own wise will and providence.’ Discerning the Voice of God, Priscilla Shirer, p. 170.

‘Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days – you would not believe if you were told.’ Habakkuk 1:5.