27th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Wrestle With God)
Is it okay or even spiritually healthy to complain to God or question him? It’s a good question, and it’s what’s at the heart of the Book of Habakkuk, specifically the struggle to reconcile the hardships that come with life—whether one’s struggles within or those outside of ourselves—with the wisdom and righteousness of God’s providence over all things.
It’s generally believed that Habakkuk lived and wrote some time about 600 years before the birth of Jesus. One thing that’s distinct about him versus those of the other biblical prophets, is that his writings can be thought of as primarily a discussion of sorts between him and God. He was a deep thinker, as St. Jerome described him, a “wrestler with God”.
There were two dilemmas for Habakkuk. One was the looming threat of an emerging Babylonian army, under the reign of the ambitious and power-hungry king Nebuchadnezzar. The other was the moral decay of his fellow Jews, those of the southern kingdom, Judah. Under the influence of misguided and weak kings, the people were more prone to trust in themselves than God. There was violence, injustice, and discord among people. And to all this, Habakkuk asked God, “Why do watch all this and do nothing?”
God’s first response was that he would use the first problem to correct the second. In other words, in whatever way the Jewish people had gone astray, he would make things right by allowing them to suffer punishment at the hands of the Babylonian army. To this, Habakkuk asked, “What? How does that help matters?”
More to come on how God would further respond to the prophet, but back to the original question I posed: Is it okay, spiritually healthy, to complain to God or question him? Well, Habakkuk did, so I suppose, yes—but that’s a qualified yes. What’s important in that question is how Habakkuk did so.
I doubt there's anyone here who has witnessed the things Habakkuk identified—violence, injustice, discord among people—and hasn’t wondered why God doesn’t intervene and help. I further doubt there's anyone here who hasn’t, at some point, considered the struggles they are experiencing in their own life and not wondered, “God, you said you had good things in store for me…..I’m ready…..Hello, God….are you there?”
But also, when it comes to complaining to God or questioning him, I think of Church teaching. Let’s be clear, the teachings of the Church only exist because they help us to be and act in accord with what God desires of us. However, I would suggest that almost every Catholic—if they are being honest and are asking the hard questions—struggles with at least one of the Church’s teachings, whether it’s on sexual purity, teachings on marriage, the roles of men and women in the Church, that gender and its identity is assigned by God, issues of immigration, or whatever else. They’re challenging, if, for no other reason, in whatever way they differ from what the culture around us tends to profess. But we must wrestle with it, rather than pridefully closing the door on ongoing discussion.
So I go back to Habakkuk, he who spiritually wrestled with God. He wasn’t just seeking immediate answers within himself. He wasn’t just relying upon the wisdom of his circle of friends. He wasn’t seeking guidance based on emotions. And had there been social media, I don’t believe that’s where he would seek understanding. Instead, he went within himself, to that place where, if we give God the space and the time, we can wrestle. We call that meditative prayer (see Catechism, 2705-8). It asks: “God, show me what I’m not seeing. Give me peace where I’m struggling to trust and believe.”
Habakkuk asked, “How long, O LORD? I cry for help but you do not listen!” And to this, God replied, “For the vision still has its time….if it delays, wait for it, it will surely come.…” In the course of their prayerful dialogue, God spoke to Habakkuk and assured him: I am with you and I will be your justice. Be patient, trust. Habakkuk did, and we have the benefit of hindsight to see how God came through.
For the myriad of hardships we face; our causes for fear; our struggles to break sinful habits and the sense of helplessness it brings; for the disorder in our world; but also for the ways that God’s commands, including how its presented in Church teaching, challenge us—for all of that, more than the noisy and impulsive voices all around us, like Habakkuk, we need honest, but also prayerful dialogue with God.