(Part 6 in a series of posts on Habakkuk.)

Habakkuk 1:5

Last time we looked at three reasons why we sometimes think that God does not care.

1. We pray but do not see God’s answer right away.
2. We are in trouble and God does not deliver us right away.
3. We see the wicked triumphing over the righteous.

Habakkuk 1:5-11 addresses each of these problems in turn. Today we will look at verse 5 which provides an answer to the first problem.

How do we know God does care? (Habakkuk 1:5-11)

So how do we know God does care? What about when we pray and don’t see God’s answer right away? What about when we are in trouble and God does not deliver us right away? What about when the wicked triumph over the righteous? I mean, in those situations it really could look like God doesn’t care. But, remember, looks can be deceiving. In verses 5-11 God responds to Habakkuk’s complaint. And in answering Habakkuk’s questions, God showed Habakkuk, and he shows us, that yes he does notice, yes he is concerned, yes God does care.

    1) God assures us that he hears our every prayer.

First of all, God assures us that he hears our every prayer. Habakkuk wondered if God was listening to his prayers for justice, but God was listening all along. Look at verse 5. God said to him: “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.” (Habakkuk 1:5) Not only had God been listening, God was moving entire nations around in answer to Habakkuk’s prayers. God told Habakkuk, “You just watch and see how I am going to answer. You are going to be utterly amazed.”

Isn’t that just like God? While we are crying out “How long?” and wondering if he is even listening, God is already in process of answering our prayers. And God often answers in the most amazing ways. If someone told us in advance how God was going to answer our prayers, we probably wouldn’t even believe it. God’s ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

When we pray and God does not answer right away, we may sometimes think that God does not care. But God assures us that he hears our every prayer. 1 John 5:14-15 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us — whatever we ask — we know that we have what we asked of him.” God hears and answers us when we pray.

Does God answer every prayer? Well, there are a few conditions God lays out for us in his Word. We just saw from 1 John that we must ask according to God’s will. James 4:3 says we must ask unselfishly. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” And Psalm 66:18 tells us we must also come to God with a pure heart. “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” (Psalm 66:18) But when we come before God with a pure heart, with the right motives and asking according to his will, God promises to hear and answer our prayers. God assures us that he hears our every prayer. God cares.

(Looking ahead: Next time we will look at the second way we know God cares from Habakkuk 1:6.)

Here are the links to the whole Blogging with Habakkuk series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25.