“Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do You tolerate the treacherous? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” Habakkuk 1:13
“Why doesn’t God just stop them?”
Maybe you have had someone close to you suffer from the evil of another human being. Perhaps you are deeply troubled by the sex trade in South East Asia, or the slaughter of minorities in the Middle East.
Whatever the case, most of us have found ourselves thinking that if God really is righteous, just, and in control, He should supernaturally intervene in a situation.
But where do you draw the line? Where is it OK for God to get involved, and where should He just mind His own business? Everyone has a slightly different answer.
Should God strike you ill before you gossip about your neighbor? Should He cause a fender bender to prevent you from taking a lustful look at a jogger? Perhaps the disparity between our unrighteousness and the unrighteousness we criticize is not as big in God’s eyes as it is in ours.
As good as it is to care about righteousness and justice in the world, we must put the lion’s share of our effort toward personal growth in those areas. The most important step in this growth is confessing our need for Christ, since there are many ways we unwittingly work against righteousness and justice every day.
It should be no surprise that, as we see how we much mercy we have received from Christ, that we are empowered to address the wrongs in the world with humility, endurance, and love.
Thank You Father, for sending Your Son to take the punishment I deserved for working against righteousness and justice in this world. Please empower me to work against injustice in the world from a place of deep awareness of my own spiritual bankruptcy outside of Christ.
Take Action
Some of us have established rhythms of good works that do not leave room for prayer and Bible study. Seek the Lord in choosing an activity to say “no” to in order to establish these spiritual disciplines.