You don’t have to live long, before things get confusing. Life turns hard.  Disappointments  hit, losses add up, and  you wonder what you can actually be sure of to make sense of things.
Habakkuk, a prophet in the kingdom of Judah was confused. He had watched the personal revival in King Josiah, result in some exciting changes in the spiritual health of the  nation. But, the ease with which his successors plunged the nation back into a spiritual malaise showed that the national  spiritual change would be short lived. He was frustrated that God did not discipline the leadership and show the people He meant business. God responded to his cry. But, his message raised the confusion thermometer to red hot readings. It turned out that God’s plan was to bring the shockingly brutal and godless Babylonians to conquer Judah as a response to His people’s spiritual frivolity.
Habakkuk lost his mind. He rebuked God, reminding Him that He was too good for such absurd behavior. As you might expect, God was not swayed. Finally, the Book of Habakkuk ends with the prophet expressing a fantastic prayer of faith.  It is a model  of what to embrace and express in confusing times. Marian and I have prayed his prayer together when we have felt as  he did…. exhausted and bewildered with God’s moves (or lack of them).
He cites two things in his faith expression (Habakkuk 3:17-19):
  1. What He did – He chose to praise.  Though everything seemingly falls apart, he is determined that, “I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation”. (vs. 18)    I encourage you to pray the very words as a statement of fact and faith
  2. What He knew God would do – “He makes my feet like the deer’s; He makes me tread on my high places”.  (vs. 19)  The high, craggy, steep places needed sure feet.  Mountain deer navigate it well. God gives us sure steps, the capacity to navigate the dangerous terrain.  He wanted God to revive the nation. God assured him He would sustain His man.
Some times you don’t know what to ask for, or, if you do, to pray it with anything approaching confidence.  But, you can take the words of the prophet and make them your own in confusing times.