How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But You do not listen! (Habakkuk 1:2, NLT)
There are periods in our lives when it seems God is not answering. But that does not mean God is not there, that He’s not listening. My father always used to say, that in the laws of physics, every action has a reaction. Every wave is followed by a trough. And every tough is followed by a wave. He taught me, our emotions and experiences vary. But under pressure, we mustn’t think God is not listening to us. The communist prison was the worst time in my life – yet God used it to work one of the biggest miracles in my life! When I look back, I thank God for that time! Like Habakkuk, there are times when we have to go through the despair, “How long will I cry and You will not hear?!”
But now in Habakkuk 2:1 the prophet says, “I will stand upon my watch, and set me on my tower, and I will watch what God will say to me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” In the midst of his depression and anxiety, Habakkuk resolves, “I will go into my tower. I will watch and wait to see what the answer is. And – what shall I say to Him if I’m reproved?” You know, there are times, spiritually, when God HAS to reprove us. I know. There have been times in my life when I have had to face reproof. And there have been many times, when I have been over-concerned and over-anxious.
Now the prophet writes in v2, “The Lord answered me! He said, ‘Write the Vision, make it plain, that he who reads it may run with it! For the Vision is yet for an appointed time. But at the end it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it, because it shall surely come and will not delay.’” God is saying, “I’m going to show you the Vision (what will happen) – write it down, speak it clearly. And then run with the Vision, because it is for a specific time, it WILL come, at the appointed time. And although it seems to you to delay, it will not fail!” Sometimes in our lives we need the patience to wait for the fulfilment of God’s Promises…
Looking back over more than 70 years of ministry, seeing the difficult times I’ve been through – God has never failed me! There have been ups and there have been downs in my life, believe me! I’ve been in poverty. There was a time when I was newly married with twin girls, I was evanglising, and I had no money – we lived for a week on mushrooms which someone gave us! But God never fails!
Oh yes, there are times like Habakkuk when I’m saying, “O Lord, how long shall and I cry, and how long will You not hear?” That happened to me in a communist prison, 50 years ago, in 1972, when I was saying, “O God, here I am, locked up in a prison, starving, hardly any food, not allowed out of my prison cell!” In the midst of all this, one morning God answered when I was alone in my cell, crying out in desperation that I couldn’t pray anymore… Suddenly it seemed as if the whole roof of the prison was blown off. I could feel the angels coming down, I could see the Glory and the Fire and the Power. I jumped up, singing at the top of my voice that famous song, ‘Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee, how great Thou art!’ But where did I see this breakthrough? In the distress and discomfort of a prison cell. I haven’t had an experience like that anywhere else!
But this is God! And like Habakkuk, we’ve got to seek for a fresh Vision, we’ve got to seek that God would revive us, awaken us. Joel is full of this, 2:21ff, “Fear not O land, be glad, rejoice, the Lord WILL do GREAT THINGS! Don’t be afraid… Be glad, rejoice in the Lord your God, for He has given you the former rain moderately – and He will cause to come down for you the former and the latter rain. The floors will be full of wheat and the vats will overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years the locusts have eaten… And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, that I am the Lord your God and none else, and My people shall never be ashamed!” – In my darkest hours in the prison, that’s what the Lord brought to me: ‘Those who trust in God will never be ashamed!’
I want to remind you. Whatever the circumstances, whatever the difficulties we may be going through, we shall never be ashamed of our faith and our trust in God, and in His Power and in what He is going to do…