Spreading the love of Jesus...the Cowboy Way!

Echoes From the Campfire

"The laws of nature only apply to God's creation; they do not apply to the Creator."

--Ken Pratt (Legacies of Spring)

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God."

--Philippians 4:6 (NKJV)

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Where are you God? Why don't you answer me? Oh, then we give the trite answer, "He does. He's just saying, 'No'." But wait...hold on, God does not always speak.

"O LORD, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, 'Violence!' And You will not save." --Habakkuk 1:2, NKJV

The prophet cries, "why are You not hearing me?" The CEV translates it this way, "Our Lord, how long must I beg for your help before you listen?" Why is God not doing something? Why is He not listening? Ah, but He is.

First of all, this is not a treatise on prayer. There are so many of them out there: how to pray, what method to use, what type of prayer, specialty prayers (i.e., Jabez). This is just a simple comment regarding the prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. It seems that he must have been praying in anguish for some time. Nothing from God. Listen! God does not always answer our prayers. I will not go into detail at this time on that but one example is when Peter states that a husband's prayer for his wife may be hindered if they are not considerate and do not respect them. Prayers are hindered because of inconsistency, a lack of faith, bad relationships, sin, and James reminds us that we do not receive because we "pray amiss," or as the NIV translates it, "When you ask you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." (James 4:3) On the cross, Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34, NIV). God did not answer His Son. So pause for a moment when you think that God is not hearing or answering.

However, know this--God is active! God is there! Nothing is done by chance in this world, or in your life without His approval and knowledge. Oh, we may sin, fall short of His glory, but He allows it, oh, and that may be a reason we don't have an answer to our prayers, we have to get back in the right relationship with Him. Understand this, "Prayer is not bending God's will to ours, but surrendering to His will." (Christopher P. David) Look at verse 5: "Look among the nations and watch--be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you." (Habakkuk 1:5, NKJV) Hmmm, in other words, if God would have told him, he wouldn't have believed it anyway.

Following verse 5, God reveals to Habakkuk what is going to take place. He doesn't explain, but He does reveal. Note that God's response to Habakkuk's prayer was totally different than what he expected or wanted. I would assume that Habakkuk would want a revival, would want God to continue to protect the people, but it turned out quite differently. See, when we pray, we know the kind of answer we want. Habakkuk, the prophet, was no different. Many times when a prayer is answered, not in the way we want, we will say that God did not answer our prayer, but in reality He did not answer it the way we wanted it answered. Peter C. Craigie gives a little light on this, "We perceive the problem in a limited way and so we also presuppose the answer in a limited way." Remember, our ways and thoughts are not His!

One more nugget before leaving for today. Even though God was silent, Habakkuk still prayed. Even though God seemed to not be answering, the prophet still entreated Him. Prayer is not something we go to God for Him to pull out something from His goody-bag. Prayer, (without ceasing) is communication with a Friend, with our Savior, with the Almighty God! As Christopher David puts it, "The silence of God did not shake Habakkuk's faith." And it should not shake ours.

D.C. Adkisson