Wrestling with God
Have you ever fought with God? Have you ever complained to God? Have you ever cried out to Him in the midst of great pain and suffering? If you have, you will find good company with this month’s prophet.
The name Habakkuk has two possible meanings: “the one who wrestles with God” or “the one who embraces God.” Habakkuk lives both. Except for the last three verses, the whole (very short!) book of Habakkuk presents his lament to God and God’s responses. We’ll first expose the back and forth wrestling between the prophet and God, followed by how Habakkuk surrenders his fight to cling to his God.
Habakkuk lives in the final decades before the Babylonian exile. It is a time characterized by corruption, injustice and idolatry. Habakkuk is different from the other prophets inasmuch as he doesn’t accuse the people, nor does he talk to the people on behalf of God. Rather, Habakkuk talks directly to God about his personal struggle to believe God is good when there is so much evil in the world. Have you ever struggled to believe in God’s goodness and love when you or those you love are suffering?
The prophet pours out his lament to God:
Hab 1:1
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not listen?
God responds. Gods tells Habakkuk that He will use the invasion of Babylonia to bring good to the people of Israel.
Habakkuk complains again, saying that the Babylonians will exacerbate the current state of corruption and injustice in the people of Israel.
Habakkuk is required to have patience, and he does:
Hab 2:1
I will stand at my watchpost,
and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
This back and forth discussion is encouraging for us. Habakkuk shows us that we can complain to God, and, as long as we are patient and remain in the dialogue, God will answer. We may not be satisfied with God’s answers, but the most important thing is to keep the communication open.
God responds again. He gives an answer that is helpful to all later generations, ours included: God is greater than any evil. He can use evil to bring about a greater good. The fact that God may use evil and suffering to lead to a greater good does not mean that He endorses evil or delights in our suffering. God is always loving us, through every event and circumstance, even though we may not perceive it.
In the third and final chapter, Habakkuk expresses a heart-felt prayer. First, he remembers God’s stupendous deeds of the past, especially how he liberated Israel from the Egyptian oppression by leading them through the Red Sea:
Hab 3:1a
O Lord, I have heard of your renown,
and I stand in awe, O Lord, of your work.
Confident that what God did in the past, he can do again today, Habakkuk asks for definitive salvation:
Hab 3:1b
In our own time revive it;
in our own time make it known;
in wrath may you remember mercy.
Finally, Habakkuk surrenders his fight with God with a remarkable act of hopeful praise. Even if all seems lost and death seems certain because there is no harvest to continue to live, he will choose to hope in God’s promise. In the midst of terrible suffering and darkness, in the world and inside himself, Habakkuk chooses to trust in God’s love. He clings to God.
3:17-19
Though the fig tree does not blossom,
and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails,
and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold,
and there is no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will exult in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
and makes me tread upon the heights.
For our personal prayer:
- Express your complaints to God. Be real and without filters- He can take it.
- Ask God: Where are you in this situation? How are you loving me? (Be prepared to be patient while you wait for God’s response.)
- Remember a specific episode when God has showed up for you in the past.
- Ask God to act again.
- Make an act of joyful praise. Choose to trust in God’s goodness and love for you.
This month’s meditation is by Sr. Janel Olberding AVI.
