Habakkuk’s first complaint to God:
2 “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.”
Habakkuk 1:2-4
Communication
Email problems?
When you send an email, it may never arrive at its destination. Some say that about 20% of validly addressed email never arrives at all.
How do you know whether the email you sent arrived? And even if it did, can you be sure that the recipient read it?
Sometimes the spam folder can snag our email. Do we need to avoid expressions or content that suggest our message may be spam? If our messages have been identified as spam before, they are much more likely to be called spam again.
To give our messages the best possible chance of getting through, we need to get the address right, make sure that our message doesn’t look like spam, and be a credible emailer - not a frequent spammer.
Does God hear prayer?
Habakkuk lived a long time before email, but he had the same concerns about prayer. He complained that his cries for help had not been heard by God.
So how can we tell if God has heard?
In the Bible – and in our experience – God does not normally answer directly, or immediately. Only in rare cases are answers given through God speaking or through angels sent to give instruction. Does that mean he is not hearing prayer?
God does give us guidance about whether he will listen to prayer or not. He says that he hears the prayers of righteous people (Proverbs 15:8, 29) but that the prayers of anyone who will not listen to God’s laws are an abomination to him (Proverbs 28:9; Psalm 66:18). In some other specific examples, we are told that God will not listen to people who have blood on their hands (Isaiah 1:15) or to husbands who do not live with their wives in an understanding way (1 Peter 3:7).
In summary, if we live as God wants us to, he will listen to our prayer. It’s up to us.
Violence
Violence is very popular and has always been. First Cain murdered Abel (Genesis 4) and then violence gradually spread over the earth to the point where God finally sent the flood (Genesis 6:11-13). Ever since, violence has been standard behaviour across the world.
Violence is reported as a common problem throughout the Bible and it was one of the things that Habakkuk complained about.
What do you think about violence?
Before you answer that though, let’s note that God hates people who love violence (Psalm 11:5), so it really is very important.
Violence spreads because violent people entice their neighbours into violence (Proverbs 16:29) and so it spreads all over the world.
Just think – our media thrives on violence. Violence sells films, videos, TV shows, magazines, newspapers, sport, books and games. Those who buy and share these things suggest to their neighbours, family and friends that they should watch them too and so men and women of violence spread their love of violence all over the world.
“Haven’t you seen this show? You should!”
“This video game is really exciting! You should try it!”
Violence really is more popular than peacefulness.
Do you find that a bit of violence spices up a film? Does violence make a video game a bit more interesting?
God hates violence. Violence killed God’s son.
Violence in Habakkuk’s time
Other prophets in Habakkuk’s time also complained about violence:
Jeremiah
- “I shout ‘Violence and destruction!’ ” (Jeremiah 20:8)
- [Speaking to a king:] “Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.” (Jeremiah 22:3)
- [Speaking to a king:] “But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence.” (Jeremiah 22:17)
Ezekiel
- “Violence has grown up into a rod of wickedness” (Ezekiel 7:10-11)
- “The land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence” (Ezekiel 7:23)
- The people fill the land with violence and provoke God still further to anger (Ezekiel 8:17)
-
Zephaniah
- God will punish those who fill their master’s house with violence and fraud (Zephaniah 1:9).
Violence or peace?
God’s people had learned violence from the nations around them and become better at it than the people they had copied (see Psalms 106:34-38 and 2 Kings 21:9-16).
Habakkuk may well have suffered violence from his countrymen. Jesus said to his disciples that they were to be happy when others reviled them or persecuted them on Jesus’ account because the nation had persecuted earlier prophets in the same way (Matthew 5:11-12).
Throughout history, this has constantly happened to those who are weak, or are not willing to use violence themselves.
But God does not want it to remain so. His plan for the future is for a world without violence, as he says of Jerusalem:
“…I will make your overseers peace
and your taskmasters righteousness.
Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
devastation or destruction within your borders;
you shall call your walls Salvation,
and your gates Praise.”
Isaiah 60:17-18
To be continued….
