What in The Heaven Is Going On?

It doesn’t matter how the tragedy comes…

A bridge collapsed, a car crashed, the economy tanked, a job was lost, a marriage came to an end, a baby dies, an injury took place, your favorite sports team lose for the fifth straight game….

And the reaction is often the same response…

(Pardon my French)

But…“What in the hell is going on???”

Why is it that we often assume that all hell itself has been launched as though God was nowhere to be found?

And if God is mentioned, He is either blamed or cursed.

Why is that? Why are we so obsessed with always seeing the negative and assuming the worst?  

Some people are so obsessed: With asking God to damn this and to damn that –marriage, home, car, etc…

Why not ask God to bless this and to bless that?

It is as though we are fixated on what is wrong and rarely focused; or even ask the question;

“What in the heaven is going on?”

In Chapter 3 of the Book of Habakkuk (in the Bible), the prophet was given a vison of some impending disaster that was about to strike. His response was (at first) to have a view from below. Verse 16:

      “When I heard, my body trembled;
      My lips quivered at the voice;
      Rottenness entered my bones;
      And I trembled in myself…”

You might be thinking; “Well at least he was dealing with reality…he wasn’t sugar-coating in some Pollyanna dreamland view...some happy-happy-joy-joy everything will work out you’ll see” view point.

But I would submit that his perspective changed when God showed him a view from above and he asked (implied):

“What in the heaven is going on?”

We pick up his response in verse 17:

      “Though the fig tree may not blossom,
      Nor fruit be on the vines;
      Though the labor of the olive may fail,
      And the fields yield no food;
      Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
      And there be no herd in the stalls—“

See, he was dealing with real life, real death, reality! He spoke of seeing no crops, no food, and no livestock. He spoke of truth (from man’s perspective) and said it like it is.

BUT his response was to ask (implied):

“What in the heaven is going on?”

We pick up his response in verse 18:

       “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

His response to the question; “What in the heaven is going on?” was one of praise and determination to see this disastrous situation from God’s perspective and REJOICE!

It is as though he chose to say; “I choose to see and look for how God will and is responding!”

And in doing so, from God’s perspective, he could see that God was still in control and He was his source of strength to get him through this disaster!

We pick up his response in verse 19:

       “The Lord God is my strength;
      He will make my feet like deer’s feet,
      And He will make me walk on my high hills.”

The difference in how we face disasters or bad news for that matter is really about CHOICE.

Choice to ask, “what in the hell is going on?” and choice to ask; “what in the heaven is going on?”

One will feed into your fears and anxieties and one will produce hope and faith and joy!

It’s really doesn’t change the circumstance; just how you CHOOSE to go through it/them.