Monday 17th July
Read Habakkuk 1:1-4
“The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.
2 How long, Lord, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’
but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralysed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted.” (NIVUK)
Often the prophetic books begin with a description of the prophet and how they were called to proclaim Yahweh’s word. Not Habakkuk. It begins, quite literally, with the need to unburden. He simply has to bring before Yahweh his concerns. Everything he sees around him, in Israel, and in the world, causes him grief and confusion.
Before we even consider the source of that grief and despair, the questions Habakkuk asks of Yahweh and the answers he will eventually demand, we should pause. At its very heart, this small word, this beautiful poem, is first and foremost a prayer. As often as we feel the need to praise God, we should not fear to lay our laments before Him.
Sometimes grief and confusion and frustration and anger can drive people away from God. But Habakkuk has nowhere else to go, nowhere else to lay down his burden. He unburdens himself before the one who is the very source of his problems. As Peter responded to Jesus after many turned away because His words were too hard to hear, too hard to bear, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’ (John 6:68) (NIVUK).
Having concluded 15 Days of Prayer, allow lament, guided by the Psalms, (and even Habakkuk), be amongst the many ways in which you build your relationship with your Father in heaven.
