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When the Miracle does not come
Recently, I have had heartbreaking conversations with people who have suffered trauma and loss in their lives. As sad as these stories were, there was something more troubling than the suffering and loss they experienced. It was their shattered faith. For various reasons, some known only to themselves, their losses had crushed their faith. Making their loss doubly tragic.
Today, I want to look briefly at the prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk is a tiny book buried among the minor prophets that many overlook. He lived in Israel during a troubled time. The northern ten tribes of Israel had already been conquered and taken into captivity by Assyria because of their idolatry. At the same time, Babylon was growing strong and threatening to take over the region. And his home in the southern kingdom of Judah had become as idolatrous, corrupt, and wicked as the northern kingdom had been.
Habakkuk was overwhelmed and cried out to God:
How long, O Lord, will I call for help,
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do not save.
Why do You make me see iniquity,
And cause me to look on wickedness?
Yes, destruction and violence are before me;
Strife exists and contention arises.
Therefore the law is ignored and justice is never upheld.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
Therefore justice comes out perverted.
Habakkuk 1:2-4[ESV]
God answers Habakkuk, but it’s not the answer he was looking for. God was going to deal with the wickedness that Habakkuk saw everywhere, but he was going to use a nation even more wicked than his to bring His judgment on Judah. He would use the Chaldeans, which is Babylon, the very thing Habakkuk feared. But along with this bad news, he was told that the righteous live by faith. Another day was coming when the evil of Habakkuk’s day would be overcome with goodness.
“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
As the waters cover the sea.”
Habakkuk 2:14[ESV]
Habakkuk tried to process all that God said regarding the coming judgment of his people and responded with a song of worship about God’s power, justice, and majesty. And the song ends with this remarkable statement of faith:
Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
Habakkuk 3:17-19[ESV]
What do we do when the miracle does not come?
When Christians talk about prayer, they often use language like, God did not answer my prayer, or I am still waiting on God when life is not the way they desire it. That perspective is often the right one. But sometimes, this attitude can be used to cloak denial of the possibility that God did answer, and the answer was no. Habakkuk did not like or even understand God’s response to his prayer, but the remarkable thing to me is that once he understood God’s intention, he did not fight it or deny God’s justice. He knew God’s judgments were just. He leaned into God at those moments, knowing that God would make everything right in time.
Habakkuk took the long view during those trying times, and so must we. During the darkest times in my life, through tragedy and trial, God’s presence was the most precious to me. God’s mercy carried me through even when my faith was failing. It is important to remember how short life is and how long eternity is when we are struggling with life. God’s view and our’s can’t be compared to each other, so we must trust in the goodness of God whenever life overwhelms us. Consider how Paul dealt with difficult answers to prayer:
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
But he said to me,
“My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ, then,
I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Cor 12:8-10 [ESV]
Get full access to On walking the Way at tompossin.substack.com/subscribe
This Week
This week, I will take some time to remember the goodness of God in the past and His promises to us for the future. I will deliberately thank God and the people I meet for the many blessings I take for granted every day. Like Habakkuk, I must trust God even in crisis because I know He is good.
This week, I will try to remember the phrase I have told my students so many times:
No god small enough to fit in my head is big enough to worship.
Have a great week!
Get full access to On walking the Way at tompossin.substack.com/subscribe
View all episodes
By Tom PossinRecently, I have had heartbreaking conversations with people who have suffered trauma and loss in their lives. As sad as these stories were, there was something more troubling than the suffering and loss they experienced. It was their shattered faith. For various reasons, some known only to themselves, their losses had crushed their faith. Making their loss doubly tragic.
Today, I want to look briefly at the prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk is a tiny book buried among the minor prophets that many overlook. He lived in Israel during a troubled time. The northern ten tribes of Israel had already been conquered and taken into captivity by Assyria because of their idolatry. At the same time, Babylon was growing strong and threatening to take over the region. And his home in the southern kingdom of Judah had become as idolatrous, corrupt, and wicked as the northern kingdom had been.
Habakkuk was overwhelmed and cried out to God:
How long, O Lord, will I call for help,
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do not save.
Why do You make me see iniquity,
And cause me to look on wickedness?
Yes, destruction and violence are before me;
Strife exists and contention arises.
Therefore the law is ignored and justice is never upheld.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
Therefore justice comes out perverted.
Habakkuk 1:2-4[ESV]
God answers Habakkuk, but it’s not the answer he was looking for. God was going to deal with the wickedness that Habakkuk saw everywhere, but he was going to use a nation even more wicked than his to bring His judgment on Judah. He would use the Chaldeans, which is Babylon, the very thing Habakkuk feared. But along with this bad news, he was told that the righteous live by faith. Another day was coming when the evil of Habakkuk’s day would be overcome with goodness.
“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
As the waters cover the sea.”
Habakkuk 2:14[ESV]
Habakkuk tried to process all that God said regarding the coming judgment of his people and responded with a song of worship about God’s power, justice, and majesty. And the song ends with this remarkable statement of faith:
Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
Habakkuk 3:17-19[ESV]
What do we do when the miracle does not come?
When Christians talk about prayer, they often use language like, God did not answer my prayer, or I am still waiting on God when life is not the way they desire it. That perspective is often the right one. But sometimes, this attitude can be used to cloak denial of the possibility that God did answer, and the answer was no. Habakkuk did not like or even understand God’s response to his prayer, but the remarkable thing to me is that once he understood God’s intention, he did not fight it or deny God’s justice. He knew God’s judgments were just. He leaned into God at those moments, knowing that God would make everything right in time.
Habakkuk took the long view during those trying times, and so must we. During the darkest times in my life, through tragedy and trial, God’s presence was the most precious to me. God’s mercy carried me through even when my faith was failing. It is important to remember how short life is and how long eternity is when we are struggling with life. God’s view and our’s can’t be compared to each other, so we must trust in the goodness of God whenever life overwhelms us. Consider how Paul dealt with difficult answers to prayer:
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
But he said to me,
“My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ, then,
I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Cor 12:8-10 [ESV]
Get full access to On walking the Way at tompossin.substack.com/subscribe
This Week
This week, I will take some time to remember the goodness of God in the past and His promises to us for the future. I will deliberately thank God and the people I meet for the many blessings I take for granted every day. Like Habakkuk, I must trust God even in crisis because I know He is good.
This week, I will try to remember the phrase I have told my students so many times:
No god small enough to fit in my head is big enough to worship.
Have a great week!
Get full access to On walking the Way at tompossin.substack.com/subscribe