God replies when we pray. But are we open to his answer being surprising, even shocking?
Read: Habakkuk 1: 5-11
We all have expectations about the way God will answer our prayers. “God has done it this way before”, we tell ourselves, “so he’ll likely do it that way again.”
But God won’t be tied down by our expectations. He could answer Habakkuk’s prayer in myriad ways, but the way he chooses is quite shocking to Habakkuk…it blows his expectations out of the water.
“Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.”
God says he’ll raise up a secular nation from far beyond Judah’s religious world and that they will be the means of God enacting the change of heart that his people need. The problem is the result of bad leadership, so when Babylon invades, the leaders (the problem) will be carried off into exile, while the ordinary people (the sufferers) will be left to reclaim the things that violence and lack of justice has deprived them of.
So, God answers our prayers, often in surprising ways. And the same God is at work and able to work in and through and despite the political power plays of today’s world.
Have you ever had experience of God working in ways that are surprisingly unlikely? How do you feel about the suggestion that God will work through secular institutions and individuals to bring things that are ultimately for everyone’s good?