By David ReayMonday 24 May 2021LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
This is the message that the prophet Habakkuk received in a vision.
How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted. (NLT)
Many of us can sympathise with the prophet with the odd name. All around us it seems God is not stepping in to stop the injustice or to quell the violence. God’s ways are not being followed. What is he doing about it? Do we just have to grit our teeth and wait for heaven? Is he indifferent to our broken world?
Later in this same book, we see that God can and does act, though in unexpected ways. He does care, he will act. Even so, we can understand the prophet’s frustration: what is going on? Is God in charge or not?
But there is a twist in this tale. Habakkuk is not complaining about the state of the wider world, though he does so later on. He is commenting on what is happening in the people of God. There are certainly things wrong in the world, but there are great problems closer to home.
The Christian church can be guilty of pointing the finger at the ills of the world while downplaying its own shortcomings. Are we positively different or are we merely like everyone else with a bit of religion thrown in? Is the internal life of our church such that it presents an attractive alternative to those outside the church?
Our witness to the world is not just a matter of hoping and praying it cleans up its act. Even as we face what is wrong with the world, we need to face what might be wrong with us.
Blessings
David