PRAY IT! Not the God I Thought: The Good Company of Habakkuk

What happens when God doesn't act or respond how you think He should?  When He is not the God you thought He was?  When He doesn't add up or make sense?

As it turns out, we're not alone... we're in good company... the good company of Habakkuk.  Only three chapters short, but Habakkuk really packs a punch.  Take a look at Habakkuk 1:1-4.

The problem as God gave Habakkuk to see it:

God, how long do I have to cry out for help
    before you listen?
How many times do I have to yell, “Help! Murder! Police!”
    before you come to the rescue?
Why do you force me to look at evil,
    stare trouble in the face day after day?
Anarchy and violence break out,
    quarrels and fights all over the place.
Law and order fall to pieces.
    Justice is a joke.
The wicked have the righteous hamstrung
    and stand justice on its head. (MSG)

Perhaps there is no time quite like during prayer when we can be prone to think we've encountered God acting in ways we wouldn't expect.  We're vulnerable.  We're laying it out there for God's ears and his actions.  And then... disappointment and hurt...

Unanswered prayer.
Silent response.
Does God care?
Is He there?  Is He listening?
What gives?
What's the point?
Who are You, God???

The flip side of this prayer struggle is that there is perhaps no time quite like during prayer to seize the opportunity to respond with faith.  BIG FAITH.  And ultimately know God better as a result.

How do we pray it in light of all this? 

Step 1 in this awesome faith journey is to have a raw (honest) conversation with our raw (honest) God.  Get vulnerable.  Get honest.  Get specific.  Trust God enough with what's on your heart to tell it to Him.  Yes, it's risky.  Yes, it's scary.  It takes faith to lay it all out there in the open for God because once the questions have been asked or things have been asked for, the ball is no longer in our court, but in God's.  And then what?  And then what, indeed...

To be continued!

Dear God,
Please help me trust you enough to even begin to have a conversation with you.  Help me to be honest.  Help me to be specific.  Help me to take that step of faith and lean into you rather than stay in comfortable silence where I don't have to have much faith or risk receiving responses from you that I don't understand. 
Amen.

Join us tonight at 6pm for PoC|Coverage!  No prayer too big, no prayer too small... we take it all to our mighty and capable God!!!

Pastor Celia