On Sunday, Lord willing, we are moving from narrative to poetry as we go from the Book of Acts to the Book of Habakkuk. "Why Habakkuk,” you might ask. You know my initial answer already, right? Why not Habakkuk? It is in the Bible, and we are whole Bible people. Another good reason to spend the next three weeks in this book is to interact with one of the most significant resources that ought to be in our toolkit as God’s people. We will consider how Habakkuk uses the prayer language of lament to deal with the brokenness he feels in this world. Do you feel the world is broken? We do. What can you do about it? One thing that we must do is lament. Check this description of lament below for your consideration. And above all things, spend some time reading this three-chapter book before Sunday. Meditate on it. Pray over it. Listen to it. Pray for the body to be transformed by it. Please pray for the preacher who will proclaim it!
Lament speech is inherently relational and creaturely. Humans possess neither the mind of God nor the perspective of God (as he sees all, knows all, and is all in all). As a result, we must go to God when we are confused, or when we see injustice, or when we experience pain. Lament prayer is not God-denying language but God-affirming language that reveals a radical faith in God and a firm understanding of our dependence upon him for all things (Heath A. Thomas, Habakkuk, ed. J. Gordon McConville and Craig Bartholomew, The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018).
Habakkuk: Lament
Jubilee Fam,
On Sunday, Lord willing, we are moving from narrative to poetry as we go from the Book of Acts to the Book of Habakkuk. "Why Habakkuk,” you might ask. You know my initial answer already, right? Why not Habakkuk? It is in the Bible, and we are whole Bible people. Another good reason to spend the next three weeks in this book is to interact with one of the most significant resources that ought to be in our toolkit as God’s people. We will consider how Habakkuk uses the prayer language of lament to deal with the brokenness he feels in this world. Do you feel the world is broken? We do. What can you do about it? One thing that we must do is lament. Check this description of lament below for your consideration. And above all things, spend some time reading this three-chapter book before Sunday. Meditate on it. Pray over it. Listen to it. Pray for the body to be transformed by it. Please pray for the preacher who will proclaim it!
Lament speech is inherently relational and creaturely. Humans possess neither the mind of God nor the perspective of God (as he sees all, knows all, and is all in all). As a result, we must go to God when we are confused, or when we see injustice, or when we experience pain. Lament prayer is not God-denying language but God-affirming language that reveals a radical faith in God and a firm understanding of our dependence upon him for all things (Heath A. Thomas, Habakkuk, ed. J. Gordon McConville and Craig Bartholomew, The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018).
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Pastor Lew