Sunday, November 16, 2014

Sunday, November 16, 2014
Habbakuk 1:1-11

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous—therefore judgment comes forth perverted (Hab 1:2-4)

The prophet Habakkuk lays everything on the table. The tone is one of bitterness and questioning. “How long?!” and “why?!” In the first few lines Habakkuk has laid bare his pain and hurt and his frustration directed at God whom he believes is hearing his cries but is not acting on his desires or requests.  

I am not sure about you but Habakkuk also gives a voice to some of my own prayers. There have been times in my own life that I have cried out to God in pain and sorrow and have felt that it has landed on deaf ears. I have looked around at my own life and all I see is destruction and chaos and have asked the questions, “how long?!” and “why?!” These questions are also on my lips as I hear and see the many horrors happening around us. Things seem to be falling apart everywhere, violence and destruction are everywhere. The earth and the people cry in unison, “how long?!” and “why?!”

God’s answer does come in verses 5-11 but we do not know how long Habakkuk waited. We do not know how many sleepless or fearful nights he had to endure until an answer came. But it does come with an interesting twist; God’s opening line is one that is filled with hope and actual simple advice that may be overlooked in a speech filled with action. 

Look at the nations, and see! Be astonished! Be astounded! For a work is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told.  (Hab 1:5)

Look, consider. Wonder and be astonished. I don’t think that God is speaking of the violence and destruction or the sorrow or pain. I think what is being asked of Habakkuk and us is to “look." Not just glancing around or casting our eyes around, but truly looking/focusing on what is going on in our own lives and the world around us. To be able to see through the anxiety and fear that has swallowed us up. It’s taking the time to stop, regroup and reassess. 

Those times in my life when I have felt alone with not even God by my side, those are the times when I needed to stop, to stop running, to stop fighting and just be. To take the space and time to look. And like Habakkuk, there is wonder and astonishment. Because God is all around, and not just in the little space that I have made for God to fill, but surrounding me. God is in everything and is present and acting in ways that I can’t even imagine. Pin pricks of light, a smile or a hug, this is God at work. This is God working in us and through us, beyond all of our expectations and wants. God is moving among us and is with us, and our call as Christians is to be the bearers of this message. To be that pin prick of light in someone else’s life and in the world, to be able to say, “look!” God is here. God tells Habakkuk that work is being done in his days that he would not believe if he were told. And I think this is true for us as well. There is great work being done, so great that we would not believe it. I also think that we have been invited to join this work, God’s work. We have been asked to look, to see and be. We may not know the answers but the questions are never asked alone. 

• Amy Hamilton

[Amy Hamilton is a student in the Faculty of Divinity at Trinity College]