Complaints Become Prayer

Concerning Habakkuk’s Complaint (see yesterday’s blog)…I’ve got to tell you that when I first read it I was upset that the translator’s had titled it a complaint. I mean, wasn’t he just crying out to God and others to make them aware of the injustices around them? Well, after I re-read it a few times I realized he was just complaining to God. Whenever we repeatedly see the word “I” in reference to a person’s will and not to God’s will it is often a complaint…or soon turns into one. However in Habakkuk’s case the complaint turns into a prayer in chapter 3. That is key, I think, to our complaining to God. I am not sure there is anything inherently wrong with complaining to God…at least we are in conversation with God rather than turning from or ignoring God. But far too many people get stuck in the complaint mode and never listen to God. That is a problem! And as a result, they never move to prayer. We’ve got plenty to complain about with America in the shape it’s in, perhaps more than Habakkuk had…and we seem to be gifted at complaining, perhaps better than any generation before us. But in our day there are few who seem to move to a state of prayer…fervent prayer. I am not sure the reason, I suspect it varies greatly for each person, but unless and until we do, God continues to move but we never see His hand at work…and are robbed of joy.