“The complaint department”
“The complaint department”
Meditation – Sunday, October 30, 2022
Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4 (Forward, p. 93) CEV p. 953
Oh, there are many, many jobs out there that I would not want, but I think that perhaps the worst would be ‘the complaint department.’ If given that task, I think that I would be very inclined to resort to one of two things:
One was the complaint or suggestion box placed on the wall outside an airport Tim Horton’s location. All seemed above board—they even provided paper and a pencil—all seemed okay until I noticed that there was no bottom on the box. Whether intentional or not, any complaints or suggestions would simply fall to the floor and probably be lost.
I saw my other possible resort in a poster from a yester year: the poster read, ‘complaint department: fill in details in box below.” The problem was that the box was barely larger than the width of a pencil!
All of this having been said—entirely from a rather human point of view—about complaint departments, it may come as a surprise, and perhaps as a relief, to know that God runs a complaint department. And isn’t as remote or dismissive as the tactics that I have just suggested.
Here, in today’s text, it is Habakkuk that is complaining to the Lord—and for good reason! He sees injustice, violence, lawlessness, crime, and cruelty taking place everywhere around him. Laws are not enforced, criminals twist the laws and harass honest and innocent people, and justice always loses out. All of this is happening around him, and so he questions God: ‘what are you going to do about this?” (Doesn’t this sound all too timely, all too contemporary? Habakkuk could well be speaking these very same things today. And yes, many of us are voicing the very same complaints to God.
And, so how does our ‘complaint department’, our God, respond? We see this in chapter two. God says to Habakkuk—and to us: ‘Hold on. I am quite aware of what is going on and I have a plan in place. However, the timing is off a bit; the timing isn’t quite right yet when I will correct all these things. And so, I want you to trust me, to wait in faith, for this to happen.’
So, we are stuck in some sort of ‘holding pattern’, stuck with a kind of waiting game. As Christians who believe in Christ’s second coming we believe all the more that this is true. God will bring about justice and mete out the appropriate rewards and punishment. Everything will be ‘put to rights’. And like Habakkuk, we cry out, ‘how long, Lord.’ And like Habakkuk, we are counselled to be patient, to wait in faith, to trust in God and in His perfect plan and in His timing. But this isn’t easy, for you or for me, so I pray, for all of us: “Help us, Lord.” Amen.
Forward notes: “Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith” (chapter 2, verse 4).
“The prophet complains that the people’s cries and the prophet’s cry aren’t being heard; wrongdoing continues and stands uncorrected. Violence and destruction abound, and the law is not being followed. And, as if those things aren’t bad enough, the wicked are not being punished.
“The Lord listens, answers, and instructs. The Lord’s reply ends in a straightforward, compassionate way: ‘Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.’ Over and over again, we’re reminded of God’s love and care for the humble, the meek, and those who are righteous and faithful. These people are not forgotten; in fact, they are held in the highest honour.”
MOVING FORWARD: “Do the words of the prophet resonate with you? Do you feel unheard and abandoned? Look first to your own heart.”