***
I love how honest children are. They have no fear of telling the truth or crying when they’re unhappy.
We’ve all been there. If a parent or teacher tried making us do something we didn’t want to do, we’d protest – and pout.
For example, when I was a kid, if I got a bad grade on a math test, I’d refuse to do it over again, saying, “I’m not going to do that dumb assignment again.”
As if refusing to learn somehow punished my teacher, my school, and math itself.
***
How many kids still behave that way at home? “I’m not eating my vegetables! I’m not doing my homework! I not breathing until I faint!”
When in reality, vegetables keep us healthy…homework makes us smarter…and breathing keeps us alive.
When children pout, we don’t lose out; they do.
***
But we adults can do the very same thing; only we pout about bigger issues.
For example, when our marriage goes awry, our job seems unrewarding, or someone we love is diagnosed with cancer, who gets the blame?
Most often it’s God.
As if he’s the mastermind behind our suffering. “I’m not praying anymore! I’m not going to Church! I refuse to believe!”
In such cases, it’s not God who loses out; we do.
When we clinch our fists and close our hearts, we lose the opportunity for God’s grace and comfort. Just as a parent cannot console a pouting toddler, so God cannot console us if we turn away from him.
It’s a hard thing to accept – God doesn’t prevent us from suffering or making poor choices; but he is willing to console us – and open new doors when we need them most.
***
Just consider the prophet Habakkuk in our first reading.
***
Habakkuk lived in very dark days. Like the residents in the Bahamas who lost everything in Hurricane Dorian some weeks ago, Habakkuk’s hometown was also destroyed.
Only it wasn’t a hurricane that caused it; a foreign army invaded Jerusalem, burning many peoples’ homes to the ground. Families were separated – many were killed or sent into slavery.
Seeing such destruction made it tempting to give up the faith – to close up inside and say, “God isn’t here.”
As if God would be the loser when we pout.
But that’s not what Habakkuk does. He pours his heart out to God, saying, “How long, O Lord? How long? I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry to you, ‘Violence!’ But you do not intervene.”
Yes, things look bleak.
But Habakkuk still trusts that God will come to his aid.
Though we don’t hear it today, Habakkuk ends his prayer with the words, “I will rejoice in the Lord and exalt in my saving God. God my Lord is my strength.”
***
That’s faith the size of a mustard seed.
***
It’s the type of faith that Jesus praises in the Gospels. It’s the one who doesn’t give up when things look bleak; rather, they pray and wait for another door to open.
Like the prophet Habakkuk, where am I being invited to trust? Or where do I need another door to open?
***
“Ask and you shall receive,” Jesus says, “seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.”
But we cannot pout. Rather, we need faith the size of a mustard seed, faith that hopes in times of trial and waits for God to do the rest.