Learning to Wait in Hope
“O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?” (Habakkuk 1:2)
This prayer of Habakkuk is a simple plea to God about the state of life in Israel at that time. Though there is no concrete evidence of the timeline of Habakkuk’s prophetic work, many scholars think that he lived during the time of King Jehoiakim. During this time, Israel was prosperous; but due to King Jehoiakim’s poor leadership qualities, the rich and the military officials took control of the land. The King utterly failed to give justice to the people or to protect the weak and the poor. Even Prophet Jeremiah denounces the rule of this king, uttering harsh punishment on him, “They will not mourn for him: Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor! He will have the burial of a donkey, dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 22: 18 – 19).
As a prophet, Habakkuk takes all the people’s complaints before God in prayer saying; “destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.” (Habakkuk 1:3). He confronts God and says that God is giving blind eyes to all these abuses. How can God be tolerant to such extreme wickedness?
Later that evening Habakkuk receives a revelation from God, who asks him to write down everything that God has revealed. God asks Habakkuk to learn to wait in hope. For some time, the people will not see any change, but God will bring justice to his people, and God will intervene to bring His salvation. Meanwhile, God wants his people not to lose hope and abandon justice. Hope is the source and the sure sign of faith.
The last sentence of today’s reading sets the tone for our Christian living in God, “The righteous person lives by their faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). The Hebrew word used here for faith, ‘emunah’, means integrity, fidelity, and/or faithfulness. The word ‘amen’ that we use as a conclusion of our prayers comes from the same root which affirms what we have prayed as, ‘it is true’. Habakkuk is asking the people to remain true to God during their earthly trials and tribulations as they also await the promised future fulfillment.
In the Gospel passage of today, Jesus tells us that even a little faith that we have in God can have the power to uproot the sycamore tree. These trees live up to 600 years having a complex root system going very deep into the ground. Jesus creates a contrast between the mustard seed which is tiny and the deep-rooted sycamore. A little faith, like the mustard seed, is more than enough to face the difficulties as strongly rooted as sycamore tree.
Like the disciples, we can request Jesus to strengthen our weak faith, so that we can face the challenges of the present-day, anti-god culture.
-Father Ranjan D’Sa OCD