“How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.”
Habakkuk 1:2-4 NIV
I feel like a broken record. The Old Testament is filled with the people of God crying out to Him to hear them, His wrath against their sin and turning away from Him, their repentance and His rescue.
What I love about Habakkuk’s words above is how genuine they are. With all the wrath and judgement in the readings of late, we also see so much genuine emotion. The emotion of God and of His people. Emotions matter to God.
One question I try to also ask myself when reading the scripture is, what does this reveal about who God is? When I read the first part of Habakkuk I thought of how powerful listening is. Our God listens! He listens to our praise and gratitude and He also listens to our fears and heartaches and angers.
How are you different because you have a God who listens? A God who hears you…your heart, your struggles, your doubts.
Dear God, your patience in listening and hearing us speaks to your love. Thank you for your love and how you demonstrate it to us. I am changed because I genuinely know you hear me and desire to be with me. Amen.
Mandy
Sixty-six books in a year 