Tuesday 18th July
Read Habakkuk 1:1-4
“The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.
2 How long, Lord, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’
but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralysed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted.” (NIVUK)
One of the most frequent, modern, accusations against the biblical God is the presence of suffering in the world. How does a good God allow evil and violence to take hold and injustice and oppression to multiply? Habakkuk asked the same questions over 2600 years ago. Rather than use the question to dismiss and ridicule the existence of God though, he brought the question in prayer and lament before Him.
We can’t answer these questions in daily devotions, but we can recognise that it is perfectly all right to ask them. The answers themselves are many and varied and will never perfectly satisfy this side of eternity. Despite this, reflection on these questions is a mark of spiritual maturity. Injustice should grate against and irritate our hearts. If it doesn’t then are hearts have become hard.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) (NIVUK).
