WHEN HEAVEN SEEMS SILENT

READINGS: TWENTY SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

In the 1^st reading of this 27^th Sunday in Ordinary times, year C, (Habakkuk 1:2, 2:2-3) laments, "O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?"

There is something deeply human in these words of Habakkuk. He does not dress his prayer with polite phrases or distant reverence. Rather, he cries out from the depths of frustration, confusion, and pain. His voice echoes the questions many of us have whispered when heaven seems silent as we cry out for help, healing, relief, and breakthroughs. The Bible is full of laments. The psalms cry out, “Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?” Even Jesus on the cross cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

My friends, faith is not pretending everything is fine, suppressing our doubts, hiding our pain, or putting on a smile when our hearts are broken. it is bringing our pain into the presence of God, trusting that God is big enough to handle our doubts, our anger, and our tears. So, lament is not weakness; it is worship. 

The good news is that silence is not absence and delay is not denial. God is not indifferent. He is not asleep. He is working in ways we cannot yet see, for later in this same book, God tells Habakkuk, “The vision awaits its appointed time… though it lingers, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay” (Hab. 2:3). God’s timing may not match ours, but His faithfulness never fails.

What’s remarkable is that Habakkuk’s story does not end in despair. By chapter 3, the prophet declares: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines… yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” This shift, from protest to praise, didn’t come because his circumstances suddenly improve, but because he discovered that God’s presence is steady even when His timing feels slow; he discovered that God is enough.

What we learn is that faith is not about sanitizing our prayers but being honest with God as we bring to Him our questions, anger, and tears. He welcomes and can handle them. Silence is not absence nor abandonment—God is still at work, weaving a story bigger than what we can see. Let’s choose joy in waiting, not because it is easy, but because God is faithful. He hears, sees, and will act in His time.  Our cries are not wasted. They rise to the One who embraces us in our waiting and strengthens us to endure with faith. In all circumstances, hang in there, my friends, help is on the way. Always give tomorrow a chance.