Not long after hurricane Katrina, I was traveling in Memphis, Tennessee and found myself at the Hampton Inn where I always stayed when in Memphis.  I liked this particular hotel because it had easy access to the airport and, more importantly, easy access to Jim Neeley’s Interstate Barbeque – hey, it’s important to know these things.  As I approached the lobby of the hotel that night, I sensed something was different for it was noisier than usual.  As I walked across the parking lot preparing to check-in, I heard singing coming from the lobby of the hotel.  From a distance I could only tell that it was a spiritual with a tone that could have been the Blues if it were in a club a few miles further downtown on Beale Street. 

 

As I entered the lobby, seated around the fireplace were about ten people singing a cappella in perfect harmony.  I could now make out the words of the old spiritual as they sang over and over – “Hush, hush – somebody’s callin’ my name.” And then I heard the words “I’m so glad trouble don’t last always O, my Lord, O, my Lord, What shall I do?”  The words were powerful but became more so when the desk clerk told me that most of the group had been living in the hotel after fleeing their homes along the gulf coast of Mississippi after Katrina.  They had nothing to go back to and now were waiting – for FEMA, for direction, for a sign, for God. 

 

The song being sung in the Hampton Inn that night could have been Habakkuk’s song as well – whose song?  Habakkuk really is a book of the Bible and he really was a person.  His name doesn’t rank up there with other popular Biblical boy’s names like Matthew or Luke or even Joel or Noah or Isaiah.  There just aren’t a lot of Habakkuks wandering around these days so we don’t pay the Biblical Habakkuk much attention either.  I am working on Mark and Carrie Briley to name their upcoming child Habakkuk and I think I have Mark just about convinced but Carrie seems to be the holdout.  Habakkuk is close to the end of the Old Testament (fifth book from the end) and is considered one of the “minor prophets,” a group of twelve Old Testament books with the term “minor” referring to length and not to importance.    

 

We know nothing about the prophet himself but do know that he is quoted by Paul in Romans, Galatians and Hebrews.  Despite its small size, only three chapters in length, Habakkuk plays important roles in both Judaism and Christianity.  The book addresses the question of unjust suffering and evil by presenting this appeal to God.  It’s been a comfort for individuals and groups to find comfort in such times as the Holocaust and more recently, Darfur.  Before today’s passage, Habakkuk asks God point-blank, “why are you silent when all of this trouble is going on?”  It is a question written amid the pain of ancient Israel’s struggles with internal injustice, military defeat, desperation and destruction.  The heathen king Nebuchadnezzar and this heathen army of Babylonians were oppressing the Judeans and to Habakkuk this just wasn’t right and he had to stand before God. 

 

Habakkuk had been praying for a very long time.  But the response was taking way too long and Habakkuk could take it no longer and he begins to shake his fists at God.  “God, what’s the matter – we have been praying for such a long time and you are silent – is there something wrong with our prayers?  How long shall I cry for help and you will not listen.”  This frustration with God goes on for an entire chapter and then – then, saying what he needed to say – Habakkuk WAITS for God’s response. 

 

I’ve been interested in a phrase that’s become popular recently.  “WAIT FOR IT.”  “Wait for it” is being used in pop culture to create a moment of suspense before a conclusion.  It’s sometimes used in joke telling like – “what do you call the fear of getting stuck in a chimney? – WAIT FOR IT – Santaclaustraphobia.”[1] I discovered the phase actually dates to early 20^th century when soldiers in the British army would be told to “wait for it” and not execute their next command until told to do so.[2] So Habakkuk waits on an answer.  – he says, “I will stand at my watch post and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what God will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint.”

 

And do you know what?  The Lord does answer.  God answers Habakkuk – not on Habakkuk’s time but God answers.  “There is a vision for the appointed time,” God says, “if it seems to tarry, WAIT FOR IT; it will surely come, it will not delay.” 

 

So, after a chapter of Habakkuk’s venting frustration and an oracle of God’s response, the last chapter has Habakkuk turning from frustration and desperation to real, fervent, reverent prayer.  – “Lord, I have heard of your greatness and I stand in awe of your work.  In your own time, Lord, revive it; in our own time make it known.”  In the transformation of Habakkuk, we find encouragement for those who have become impatient waiting on the promises of God to unfold in their lives.  We like to have control of our own lives after all.  We like to do things on our time and not God’s time and we like to be in control of how things turn out.  So, how did 2007 unfold for you?  Did Christmas turn out like you thought?  What are your expectations of 2008?  For many, 2007 did not turn out as you had it planned.  You’ve prayed about it, you’ve waited for things to take a new direction and yet, nothing has seemingly happened.

 

There are different seasons in everyone’s life.  There are times when everything we touch turns to gold and all is right with the world – how could one ask for anything more.  But anyone with any age on them at all knows that such times do not last forever.  Things can turn south gradually over a period of years and things can turn sour on a dime without warning and without notice.  It is these tough times that make you talk back to God, not out of irreverence, but out of a sense of confusion of the purposes that God has for your life.  Someone said to me this week – “I’m happy to listen to God but he’s going to have to be a little clearer with me to make me understand.”

 

So what do you do when you can’t read the signs – or when there are no signs from God?  What do you do when you are no longer sure that you’re on the track that God had planned for you?  What do you do when you’re not even sure that God remembers your name?  Our 21^st century, fast moving world tells us to make something happen when it’s not happening on its own.  Take charge of your own destiny.  My dad used to tell me when I took too long to consider my options – “don’t just sit there – do something – even if it’s wrong.”   

 

I think I prefer to tend toward the advice of T.S. Eliot in his poem, Ash Wednesday, when he says, “Teach us to sit still – even among these rocks.”[3] All of us have seasons in life when our only choice is to wait.  Waiting may be our only choice but we do have a choice as to HOW we wait.  Some will choose to be rebellious – others angry to a point that no one wants to be around them.  Others will resign themselves to this place in life – as if in a caste system that they will never escape. 

 

There is another way and it is my suggestion to you whether you are in one of life’s winter seasons right now or if you are mature enough to know that one will be ahead at some future point.  It is what Cleophus LaRue, preaching professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, calls a “righteous wait.”[4] People in “righteous wait” are charged with anticipation and expectation.  People in “righteous wait” – wait in the real hope of a brighter day tomorrow. 

 

Habakkuk, confused about the purposes of God, waits through a winter season in his life for an answer from God and God speaks to him of a vision that comes at an appointed time that can neither be rushed nor delayed.  Like Habakkuk, we may not even know the contents of the vision – only that it is God’s vision and, while it’s from another Old Testament prophet, my favorite passage from Isaiah is fitting - “those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength, they will mount upon wings like eagles, they will run and not be weary, they will walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31). 

 

Perhaps you heard the interview two weeks ago on the radio program, “The World” from Public Radio International.[5]   Host Lisa Williams interviewed Sammy Gitau of Kenya who received a master’s degree on the day of the interview from Manchester University in England.  Lots of people graduate from college but Sammy is bit different.  Sammy was an orphan who grew up in the slums outside of Nairobi.  His father was murdered when Sammy was young. As one of the oldest of 11 children, Sammy became a surrogate parent to his siblings. As a young provider for his family, he had two choices to make a living in those slums – a garbage scavenger or a drug dealer.  He started scavenging but quickly moved to drugs which eventually landed him in an overdose coma in a hospital bed. 

 

Sammy remembers overhearing his doctors and those who would come to visit talking about him as if he were already dead.  At that point he said, “I realized that the only way out was talking to God, confronting him.” And then he WAITED.  He got better but something was missing.  He started helping youth in gangs by establishing these resource centers but something didn’t seem right.  One day in a back alley in a trash can, he found a course catalogue for Manchester University.  Reading it, he knew that the wait was over and he set out to achieve his goals.  He overcame huge obstacles including those at home telling him he was crazy for even having such goals, governments not granting visas and, of course, funding.  But this month he graduated and will go back to Kenya to expand the resource centers throughout the slums of the capital city. 

 

Sammy stood up to God and then went into a “righteous wait.”  He didn’t mope or complain.  He waited with the real hope of brighter days ahead.  He actively waited and looked for the hand of God in his life and didn’t ignore even the simplest of things.  And even in his waiting, when he knew things weren’t quite right for him, he still tried to instill hope in others.

 

In a couple of days we’ll open the books to another year.  It would take the suspense - the “WAIT FOR IT” - out of the equation if we could see a year in advance and see our lives on December 29/30, 2008.  We’d be able to prepare – mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually.  Many of us will experience a winter season of life in 2008 – for some it will be a continuation of 2007 – for others it will be a sudden turn of events that spirals us into a place that we’d rather not be. 

 

Here is your word of hope as we begin this new year.  Waiting through the winter seasons of life does not last forever.  And if you do need to wait through the winter seasons – confront God, and then wait righteously with hope and anticipation of a better day.  I wish I knew what came of those Katrina victims gathered around the fireplace at the Hampton Inn that night in Memphis.  I know that was their winter and I know that if they believed in what they were singing, their winter is turning to spring.  I hope they are still singing perhaps not as much for themselves but now for others – “I’m so glad trouble don’t last always O, my Lord, O, my Lord, what shall I do?”  

 

In your winter of life, whether dragging on for years or a new development, there is this – WAIT FOR IT – God’s answer will come and this community of faith is yours for such a time as this.

 

 

 

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