Why Doesn’t God Act On My Prayers? Or Does He?

Habakkuk 1:1-4 1 This is the message that the prophet Habakkuk received from the LORD in a vision. 2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help? But you do not listen! "Violence!" I cry, but you do not come to save. 3 Must I forever see this sin and misery all around me? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. 4 The law has become paralyzed and useless, and there is no justice given in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, and justice is perverted with bribes and trickery.

Habakkuk makes a complaint to God The burden of Habakkuk, “How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! ‘Violence!’ I cry, but you do not come to save.” The question of Habakkuk is simple. “Where is God?” At times we ask the same question

Joseph was a young man with a promise from God Genesis 37:5-7 5 One night Joseph had a dream and promptly reported the details to his brothers, causing them to hate him even more. 6 "Listen to this dream," he announced. 7 "We were out in the field tying up bundles of grain. My bundle stood up, and then your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before it!".

Joseph found himself in the same situation as Habakkuk A situation where God didn’t seem to be moving toward what he had promised You may even find yourself in a similar situation

The Lord gives Habakkuk his answer 5 "Look at the nations and watch- and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. 6 I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own.

It was good news and bad news Habakkuk was not happy with God’s response Hab 1:12-13 12 O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish. 13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

He doesn’t question the justice of God Hab 1:17 “17 Will you let them get away with this forever? Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests?” He doesn’t question the justice of God He questions God’s method of meting out justice And God may give us a similar response

Isaiah 55:8-9 “8 "My thoughts are completely different from yours," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” The lesson we need to learn from Habakkuk is the same that Isaiah learned: God’s ways are not our ways

Sometimes it even looks like the very hand of Satan We may look at things that are happening all around us and wonder the same things Sometimes it even looks like the very hand of Satan Remember when Paul had his thorn in the flesh 2 Cor 12:7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me

Joseph’s life was a roller coaster ride toward the fulfillment of his dream, God’s plan The things that looked to the flesh to be proof that God had abandoned the plan, were the very fulfillment of that blessed plan Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Here is God’s introduction to his response to Habakkuk recorded in Hab 2 Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. 4 "See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright- but the righteous will live by his faith-

The first thing that God tells him to do is to write the vision down. This vision was Good News and it must be spread Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

God told Habakkuk that the vision would not be fulfilled right away, but to wait Those words speak of a process This implies that even as we wait patiently for the fulfillment, God is working behind the scenes to bring the vision to pass By faith, we can see how everything is going to work out according to God’s plan

In times when we don’t see physically God’s work all around us, we need to see with the eyes of faith God’s work By faith we can see how everything is going to work out according to God’s plan It’s this faith that allows us to accept that even though it goes against all logic and everything that we are experiencing, God is on the move and his purposes will be fulfilled