Seven-Day Practical Faith Blog: When the Problem and the Solution are Both Distasteful

How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save?

Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?

Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.

-- Habakkuk 1:2-3 (NIV)

As I write another promised Lenten blog entry about lament, perhaps we people of today can relate to the lament of the prophet Habakkuk. He lamented to God about the condition of Judah. All seemed torn and unjust. Wicked people had the advantage over the righteous and made things worse for everyone.

God responded that the Babylonians would be the implement of Judah's destruction. In fact, they would bring a new level of wickedness to Judah.

Habakkuk complained about the solution, how the wicked would prosper even more over the righteous. He cried out, "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil."(Habakkuk 1:13, NIV) God replied the Babylonians will yet pay the price, destroyed for their insolence and evil ways.

Sometimes our situation is all pain. We lament what's happening to us, either collectively or individually. We may not like the solution to our despair, as it becomes pain upon pain. The problem and the solution are both distasteful.

I think of the wife who escaped an abusive marriage, only to encounter the difficulties of building a new life. The man receiving the cancer diagnosis, only to find how sick the chemotherapy would make him. The parents who endured the troubled pregnancy, now holding a child who faces lifelong health challenges.

We wonder how we can keep going, feeling like we are simply trading one problem for another.

In Habakkuk 2, God promised better days. God affirmed that the earth will yet bow to him.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. . .The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.

-- Habakkuk 2:14, 20

As we cycle through levels of lament, perceiving our situation worsening instead of improving, let us cling to the hope and promise that God will provide relief, justice, righteousness, and dominion over all that is wrong.

A good example of facing uncertainty and pain can be found in my latest Practical Faith Academy podcast episode. Guest Marit Welker tells parents of estranged children there is no quick solution to win back their child. Instead, regardless of whether they were wrong or not, the parent must change and be a new creation when the child finally returns. It's a meaningful discussion you can find at CecilTaylorMinistries.com/podcast or on your favorite podcast platform by searching for Practical Faith Academy.