The Wicked

Surround The Righteous

The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.

O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous – therefore judgment comes forth perverted.

Habakkuk 1:1-4

To call God and us unequal partners is a laughable understatement. And yet by inviting us to do kingdom work on earth, God has set up a kind of odd-couple alliance. God delegates work to human beings so that we do history together, so to speak. Clearly the partnership has one dominant partner.

We know well what happens when human beings form unequal alliances: the dominant partner tends to throw his weight around and the subordinate mostly keeps quiet. But God, who has no reason to be threatened by us, invites a steady and honest flow of communication.

I sometimes wonder why God places such a high value on honesty in our prayers, even to the extent of enduring unjust outbursts. Jeremiah gripped about unfairness. Habakkuk accused God of deafness.

God wants us to come to Him with our complaints. If we march through life pretending to smile while inside we bleed, we dishonor our relationship.

The best thermometer of your spiritual temperature

is the intensity of your prayer.

Our Daily Bread – January 13, 2009