When God seems so distant
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Sat, 05 Oct 2019 16:30:43 +0000
DID you know that long before the soft drink Coke was ever produced, the Bible had already a commercial on it? The “ad” goes: “Have a Coke.” In Hebrew, Ha-bak-kuk!
Levity aside, “Habakkuk” is the name of an obscure prophet in the Old Testament. In the first reading of this 27th Sunday, we read about him. What’s amusing about this man is his audacity to stand up to God, saying, “How long, O Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen!”
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Then seeing all the violence and misery around, he dared to question how God is governing the world. “I cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not intervene. Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery?” (Hab 1,2-3)
Habakkuk may well represent a good number of us in situations when everything seems to be going wrong, when we feel that God is so distant and does not seem to care about our problems.
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For instance, why does a good God allow unimaginable misery to fall on people devastated by typhoons, floods, and other calamities?
Or why do godless people continue to sow terror and misery as in kidnappings, hold-ups and senseless killings? Add to that, administration officials who plunder the government coffers without any qualms of consicience.
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God’s answer is: “Be patient with me. I am the Master. The just one, because of his faith, shall live” (Hab 1,4).
When I did my study in Leicester, England, there was a British lady personnel at the university with whom I occasionally chat about religion.
“I find it hard to believe there’s Someone up there,” she said. “What I’ve gone through can’t make me accept that God exist.”
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“When I was 28 years old, my husband died in an accident; within that year, five of my relatives including my father and grandfather died. I thought that was the end. But just when I was recovering from the harrowing experience, my father-in-law died.
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“Last year my new husband who’s a truck driver,” she paused and I held my breath, thinking the new husband would die again! I was relieved when she said: “He was driving and bumped an old man who died on the spot.”
“It’s just too much to take,” she moaned. “I developed migraines and insomnia; until now I’m seeing a psychiatrist.”
“I can understand your feelings,” I said groping for answers. “If I’m in your place, I’d feel the same way. But it’s not the end of the world. You’re still here.
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“Despite those setbacks, don’t lose your faith in God. Faith is accepting that He is there – not just in good times but also in bad.”
Other crisis situations could be a lingering illness which one has to bear throughout life, a serious financial problem, the loneliness of a solo parent, an appointment which became a “dis-appointment.”
If you can remedy your problem, by all means do it.
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In this Sunday gospel, the apostles ask our Lord: “Increase our faith.”
Our Lord replies, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted…and it would obey you” (Lk 17,5).
It does not mean that faith will give us power to move trees, literally. But faith will give us power to COPE with difficulties, overcome obstacles and see through the harsh realities in life
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