Weekly Clarifying Wisdom: Have You Ever Prayed About Something to Find it Worse the Next Day?

Wisdom Scripture  

Acts 6:10, "But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke."

Wisdom Quote 

"Wisdom is a wedge against modernity's narrowly instrumental and procedural reason, which runs like the machines we build. It stands against modernity's excessively critical orientation, which (ironically) degenerates into parroting traditional criticisms. It is against modernity's persistent reduction of the natural order into observable parts, which loses the enchantment of the world's hidden structures, moral implications, and wholeness. And it critiques modernity's obsession with dilemmas of moral obligation, which precludes living by an orientation to the true, the good, and the beautiful." [1] 

Insights 

Have you ever had your faith in God shaken? Most of us have. A few people sent me some of their most challenging questions for God. They touched me deeply.  

1. Why has God not changed the heart of my husband, who turned his back on God over 23 years ago?

2. Why has God allowed our daughter to be the victim of so much evil and tragedy?

3. How can you leave me to raise four children alone while my beloved ex-husband disgraces us in the streets, not even looking back or thinking of helping in any way?

4. Why did our daughter have to be sexually assaulted?

5. Why did you ignore my prayers to heal my son's addiction and instead let him die?

6. God, why did you let my parents get a divorce?

7. Why did you let Grandpa die?

8. Why did my sweet, spirited, faithful, obedient, godly mother get cancer twice? Why did she suffer so horribly and die at 69?

Have you ever prayed about something only to find it worse the next day? What do you do when God responds to your prayer in a way that doesn't make sense or confuses you? You want to scream, "No,God, you are not supposed to work that way!" 

The prophet Habakkuk helps us see how to hold on to the unshakeable God when he makes no sense. Habakkuk teaches us that the more we know God, the better we can deal with life in this challenging world. God is always bigger than our little minds can ever contain.

The book is unified, with a hopeful, powerful conclusion in the last few verses. Mature faith humbly trusts in God, whom we can never fully understand. In the face of evil and suffering, we trust in the Lord God, who will one day fill the earth with his glory.

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