Habakkuk begins in Chapter 1:2 saying, “O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear?!” Sometimes it appears God is not answering us. When I was in the prison, 1972-3, I prayed and I prayed. It seemed God didn’t answer. I remember the morning, alone in my cell when I said, “O Lord, I can’t pray anymore. The Heavens are like brass, shut up against me. You don’t answer me!” But in my desperation that day, God DID suddenly answer! With such Power, that it seemed that the whole of Heaven was opened, and all the Glory of God came down into that cell! But it came because, like Habakkuk, I was saying, how long must I pray, and how long will You not listen or hear me?

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?!”