Tag: Asking hard questions

When God Shows Up

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When life gets hard, we want answers. When life gets really hard, we demand them. We want to know what’s going on, why it’s happening, and what is going to be done about it. Job certainly did. He cried out to God for answers on why all the terrible things he had experienced had happened to him. God doesn’t always give us direct answers to our questions – He’s certainly not entitled to – but He did finally come and respond to Job. It wasn’t the response Job was expecting. As we wrap up our series through Job today, let’s talk about what He said, and what we can learn from it for our own hard situations.

When God Shows Up

Do you remember the worst lecture you ever got from your parents? While I confess that I fall to it way more often than I should with my boys, my folks either weren’t much for lecturing, or else I’ve just forgotten all of them (which really isn’t very comforting news for all the wisdom we as parents impart to our children through the vehicle of the lecture…). Still, though, there are times when as parents we need to impart a great deal of important information to our children in a rapid-fire fashion. And, coincidentally or not, these times often happen to coincide with something they’ve done that wasn’t perhaps totally on the up-and-up, and when we are in a state of mild- to extreme-agitation. Now, if that happens to come across as a lecture, is that our fault? Well…probably…but that much is not where I want to go this morning. We’ll come back to this idea in a second. 

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Digging in Deeper: Habakkuk 2:1

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“I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the lookout tower. I will watch to see what he will say to me and what I should reply about my complaint.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever been through a season when you asked some hard questions of God? What prompted that for you? Was it an experience of suffering? That’s a pretty common trigger. Who the object of the suffering is as well as its kind will impact the exact nature of the questioning, but suffering can cause it all the same. Maybe you were just feeling particularly reflective and your mind wandered into some deeper topics than you had considered before. Maybe a tragedy happened to you or someone you love or even just in the world generally. Whatever the reason, asking God hard questions can be an uncomfortable, awkward, and challenging thing to do. This morning, I want to talk about those times and what we do when we find ourselves in them.

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Digging in Deeper: Malachi 3:18

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“So you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.”‬ ‭(CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

We left things yesterday in an uncomfortable place. Israel in the days of Malachi was in an uncomfortable place. When the people of God are asking whether or not it is really worthwhile to be the people of God, things aren’t good. And for us who seek to follow Jesus today, even knowing what we know from the Scriptures, we sometimes wonder the same thing. Today we get a resolution of sorts. It may not be all we think we want, but it is what God gives and so let’s talk about why it should be enough.

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Digging in Deeper: Habakkuk 1:2-4

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“How long, Lord, must I call for help and you do not listen or cry out to you about violence and you do not save? Why do you force me to look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Oppression and violence are right in front of me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates. This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

Wednesday we started our little journey through the collection of prophecy from Habakkuk. I said then that Habakkuk is perhaps the easiest prophet to understand in terms of the nature of his message. We can all connect to wrestling with the state of our culture. We can all connect with not liking the answers God gives us when we ask Him hard questions. Those two things along with God’s responses to Habakkuk’s questions are the majority of the book. As we started this journey, we talked about the fact that Habakkuk gives us permission to ask God hard questions of our own. I promised you then that today we would talk about how we are to do that such that it proves a profitable experience for us. Let’s do that.

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Morning Musing: Habakkuk 1:2-4

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“How long, Lord, must I call for help and you do not listen or cry out to you about violence and you do not save? Why do you force me to look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Oppression and violence are right in front of me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates. This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever struggled with the state of the world? Of course you have. We all do from time to time. We look at the state of things around us and lament how they are. We all recognize sin in some capacity even though we don’t all identify it in the same terms. We recognize sin and we instinctively cry out for it to be dealt with. We cry out to a power higher than ourselves whether human (often the government) or divine. If you have ever found yourself in this kind of a position–and you have found yourself in this position before–Habakkuk is for you. This, of all the Minor Prophets, and maybe of all the books of the Old Testament, is the one with which most folks should have the easiest time understanding and connecting. As we work through this over the next few days, I think you’ll see why.

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