Word of the Week:  Complaint

When we created this sermon series we would never have guessed how appropriate the first four verses of the book of Habakkuk might be this week:

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?

Or cry to you, “Violence!" and you will not save?

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.

So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth.

For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. (Hab. 1:1-4)

All of us have seen the news, we have seen some portion of the violence done this week whether physical violence or political violence, and we have each made some initial determination about the state of the world. You see someone as the victim of injustice. You may have one of two reactions as you take in the news: anger or numbness. These are two extremes of a natural “fight or flight” response hard-wired into us by our Creator. Anger is our fight response. We want to fight injustice. Numbness is our flight response. We want to flee injustice. You may want to speak out loudly on social media, or you may want to ignore it completely. Both kinds of response are automatic. Neither one is more right than the other because both types of reaction point to one thing: We are overwhelmed by violence and injustice.

Now what will you do when you realize that you are overwhelmed?

Habakkuk filed a complaint. He didn’t protest a human court or a human institution. He didn’t go to the kings of his country. He filed his complaint with the highest court - God himself. If you have ever wondered why God doesn’t fix things and fix them now, I invite you to pray through the book of Habakkuk, especially these first four verses.

Habakkuk wonders accusingly out loud whether he who created the ear has gone deaf. Will God not hear? Maybe God has made himself deaf?

Habakkuk looks at the world and says, “Oh, there is justice—twisted, perverted justice—where the story ends with the good guys surrounded by the bad guys, and God seems to be on vacation."

God’s first response to Habakkuk is hard to swallow: You wouldn’t believe the work I’m doing even if I told you about it.

When I have a human conversation like this, I typically walk away. It sounds to me like a non-answer. But something keeps Habakkuk in the conversation. We’ll talk about it more on Sunday, but between now and then I invite you to pray prayers of complaint like Habakkuk to the Lord. He listens. He hears. He is acting. Do you believe it?

In Him,

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