Which brings us to Habakkuk, our Old Testament prophet of the day. He looks around at the world around him and he see God's failures. Why are the wicked doing well? Why do evil people seem to be gaining ground on God's holy people? Where is God when you need him? Even when Habakkuk calls out his name, he feels like his words are falling on deaf ears.
How long, O Lord?
I have no answers for those great questions. And, if you're a smart preacher, neither will you.
The point isn't to find the answers here.
The point today is that it's ok to ask the questions. An authentic relationship with God means that every once in a while we're going to get teed-off. Every once in a while we're going to look around and wonder where's the Divine? Sometimes we're going to be standing waist-deep in darkness and the Light is going to feel a million miles away.
And an authentic faith prays about that. It says it out loud to God.
Don't just smile and move on. There's no other relationship in your life that you'd do that over and over again. No relationship that's worth it anyway.
Now, God will be there. The Light shines in the darkness, even when we don't see it. And in chapter 3 of Habakkuk God is going to show up in a big way and put on a pyrotechnic display of power that puts George Lucas to shame.
But we still have to say it. And sometimes we need to lawyer up.
How long, O Lord?
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