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While We Wait - Waiting Through Injustice Part 2

  • Writer: Paul Downie
    Paul Downie
  • 1 hour ago
  • 16 min read

Habakkuk 1:12-13 NIV 

[12]  Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish. [13] 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? 

Wise Solomon wrote these words: 


Ecclesiastes 8:11 NIV 

[11] When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/ecc.8.11.NIV)


And he is absolutely right. When people see that justice will not come swiftly for a crime – or even at all – then they believe in the hearts that they can get away with it. Next thing you know, copycats start carrying out the same offence, assured by slow justice that they will never account for it. 


At the same time, justice can be swift. And that is precisely the problem when proper procedures aren’t followed. We can all, I'm sure, think of miscarriages of justice carried out in haste; improperly investigated crimes causing the innocent to be declared guilty and the guilty innocent. 


Or worse: vigilantism, mob rule, trial by social media, gangland reprisals, extrajudicial killings. They might be on a sliding scale of brutality, but they start the same way: a lack of trust that the system will deal with matters as appropriate, followed by a blood lust for revenge. 


Note the difference: revenge and not justice. 


A good Christian will know the difference. 


Justice must be seen to be just. It can take time, but it must be efficient.

 

It must be righteous. 


What Habakkuk is talking about here is not just about justice, but how that justice is administered. He expressed no doubt at all in the verdict. He knew his people deserved what was coming to them.  


His issue was with who was bringing the punishment. 


These, again, are stark and tough questions, but our study of them begins in an unusual place for someone who is questioning God: The Just God. 

 

The Just God 

Habakkuk 1:12-13 NIV 

[12]  Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish. [13] 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? 

As Christians, we often encounter a conundrum that causes us a lot of stress. If we have disputes at work or in the legal or criminal spheres, often the people who we need to arbitrate these issues are not exactly paragons of justice themselves. We often find that we are relying on HR officials, bosses, police, lawyers and even judges or politicians who are corrupt or whose personal life is an absolute mess to give us just verdicts and to correct injustices. 


The very idea adds stress to the stress of being unjustly treated. 


There is only one area of life where these people should not become involved, and that is disputes of a non-criminal nature between Christians (1 Corinthians 6:1-11).  


But other than that, in the legal, criminal and political spheres, what should we do? Should we entrust our fate to those who are corrupt? 


Actually, the answer is ‘Yes’. We don’t have a choice. Whether we like it or not (and we probably don’t), God has put them there and He has His reasons (Romans 13:1-7). We must give them their place. That is our responsibility before God. We are accountable before God for that responsibility. 


They must act with justice and righteousness. That is their responsibility before God. They are accountable before God for that responsibility. 


But we are not alone in being perplexed and confused about how God works. Habakkuk was too. That was why he complained to God. 


But here’s the thing – and an often missed detail. These verses show that Habakkuk appealed to God not because God Himself was unjust, but because God is just and the situation Habakkuk observed was not just.  


Look again at verse 13: 


Habakkuk 1:13 NIV 

[13] 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? 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/hab.1.13.NIV)


Do you see it? Habakkuk was convinced that God was righteous and just, but his situation confused him. Hence why he complained and appealed to God about it. 


This is not unusual. We see it elsewhere in the Bible. Look at Abraham, arguing with God over the judgement of evil Sodom and Gomorrah to try to save his nephew Lot, who was living there: 


Genesis 18:23-25 NIV 

[23] Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? [24] What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? [25] Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” 

Do you see the basis of Abraham’s appeal? It’s that God is just, and because of this God should not punish the innocent with the guilty – which, in the end, He does not do (Genesis 19:1-29). 


Moses’ appeals, although based on God’s promises to His people rather than their righteousness, are also based on the sense that God will do what is right (Exodus 32:11-14; Numbers 14:13-16), even though His people fully deserved punishment. 


Abraham, Moses and Habakkuk all believed that God is holy, righteous and just: that He would ultimately do the right thing by His people. This emboldened them to approach God and make their appeal. 


Often we will need to appear before corrupt and compromised human authorities. It is an unfortunate fact of life in a fallen universe. I am not going to tell you to trust them. There are times when even I don’t trust them. 


But I an going to tell you to trust God. Trust Him to do the right thing by you. 


And that might not be precisely what you want. I’m sure Joseph wouldn’t have chosen to be fitted up for a crime he did not commit and sent to prison (Genesis 39). But God used even that for Joseph’s good. 


More than anything else, when we are in a situation where we have been treated unjustly, we must trust God. Otherwise, who else do we have? 


So we see, then, that to get through a time when we are being treated unjustly, we must trust in a just God. We’ll now look at Habakkuk’s second complaint – A Question of Confusion. 

 

A Question of Confusion  

Habakkuk 1:12-17 NIV 

[12]  Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish. [13] 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? [14] You have made people like the fish in the sea, like the sea creatures that have no ruler. [15] The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. [16] Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. [17] Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy? 

Habakkuk 2:1 NIV 

[1] I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/hab.2.1.NIV)


God’s methods for getting our attention or resolving issues are often beyond our comprehension. That is something we should expect: 


Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV 

[8] “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. [9] “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

If this were not the case, then God would not be God. He would just be, as the famous 1990s song put it, ‘Just a slob like one of us, just a stranger on a bus trying to find His way home’. But since He is God, we can expect Him to throw a few curveballs in our lives – to do things we neither like, enjoy nor appreciate. 


For Habakkuk, one of these was using the heartless, ruthless Babylonians to discipline and punish the Jews. After all, despite all their waywardness, weren’t the Jews more righteous than the Babylonians? Surely! 


That is the first element of Habakkuk’s complaint – the irony of it. 


But God often deals in what we would call irony to make His point, as Paul pointed out, when he discussed the Jews and the Gentiles coming to faith: 


Romans 11:13-14 NIV 

[13] I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry [14] in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.  

Paul believed that his ministry to the Gentiles, who did not have the history or the theology of the Jews, would make the Jews jealous and cause them to seek Jesus.  


Something similar also happened when Jesus was preaching: 


Matthew 9:10-13 NIV 

[10] While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. [11] When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” [12] On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. [13] But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” 

Irony is often a tool God uses in His dealings with us. Paul outlines why: 


1 Corinthians 1:26-27, 31 NIV 

[26] Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. [27] But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  
[31] Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” 

So yes, God can and does use people we perceive as being worse that us in order to prick our ego and bring us back to the realisation that we are sinners saved by grace – no better or worse than anyone else. 


Habakkuk and the Jewish people of his day would have looked down on the Babylonians. And not without reason: they were idolatrous and brutal as well as clever. But they had forgotten that it was not because of their merit that God had chosen them as His people: 


Deuteronomy 7:7-8 NIV 

[7] The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. [8] But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/deu.7.7-8.NIV)


They had broken their covenant with God and acted to silence those who told them they were in the wrong. So yes, there was a sense of irony that the Babylonians were going to take them into captivity, but it was also just and righteous. 


As well as complaining about the ironic nature of what God had told him would happen, Habakkuk also complaints about the indiscriminate nature of it: 


Habakkuk 1:14-16 NIV 

[14] You have made people like the fish in the sea, like the sea creatures that have no ruler. [15] The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. [16] Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. 

Habakkuk uses a rare word here in Hebrew, which is only used elsewhere in the Bible in Isaiah 19:8 to refer to the Egyptians fishing on the Nile. The word here doesn’t refer to a small net, but one that would be dragged behind a fishing boat, in much the same way as the disciples fished on Lake Galilee (see John 21:6 as an example).  


Now, this is important. Net fishing nowadays, particularly trawler fishing, is known to be incredibly bad for the environment and for fish stocks in particular. Pole and line fishing targets a particular species; net fishing simply captures everything that’s in the area, whether it's useful or not. It generates a tremendous volume of bycatch – fish and sea mammals that aren’t any use to the fisherman and are thrown back into the sea, usually dead. 


Habakkuk here is asking God how He can allow the Babylonians to become like a human dragnet, sweeping up people from all kinds of nations and capturing or killing them.  


Don’t we see this too? Don’t we sometimes see ‘good’ people caught up in appalling tragedies, as Solomon explained: 


Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 NIV 

[11] I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. [12] Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them. 

Without God, this all seems so cruel. So heartless. So unnecessary. 


So unfair. 


Yet we believe in a good and a loving God, whose will is always the best for us (Romans 8:28). That must extend even to the most tragic times in life. If it doesn’t, then what exactly is the point of believing something like that? 


Habakkuk also saw the idolatry of it all: 


Habakkuk 1:16 NIV 

[16] Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/hab.1.16.NIV)


He saw an evil king being used by God to do God’s will, but who chooses not to honour God. 


Now, this is quite something. 


Earlier in their history, Sennacherib of Assyria had threatened Judah, having already exiled Israel, and claimed to be a messenger from God, yet also mocked Him. He came to a very sticky end (2 Kings 18:17-19:37; 2 Chronicles 32:1-23; Isaiah 37). It was clear that God would not allow His Name to be mocked. 


Yet God was about to stand back, allow an idolatrous nation to punish Judah, and then offer worship to those self same idols, instead of worshipping Him.  


Moreover, in those days gods gained glory through military victories. God here was allowing His Name to be blasphemed (Isaiah 52:5) in defeat in order to work out His plan to discipline His people. 


We can see why this confused Habakkuk. 


Habakkuk is also puzzled by the impunity of it all: 


Habakkuk 1:17 NIV 

[17] Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy? 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/hab.1.17.NIV)


He foresaw a situation where the Babylonians would become by far the dominant regional power and would be unstoppable.  


And do you know what? It happened – to a quite incredible degree, as Daniel pointed out to Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar: 


Daniel 4:20-22 NIV 

[20] The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, with its top touching the sky, visible to the whole earth, [21] with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit, providing food for all, giving shelter to the wild animals, and having nesting places in its branches for the birds— [22] Your Majesty, you are that tree! You have become great and strong; your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth. 

It was Nebuchadnezzar himself, before he became king, who struck the decisive blow when he defeated Pharoah Necho II at Carchemish in 605 BC (Jeremiah 46). This decisive battle meant that Babylonian power was unchecked and without balance.  


And that was precisely what Habakkuk feared. 


It’s happened numerous times in history: the Romans, the Mongols, the British, the Nazis, even to an extent the Russians and definitely the Americans. Habakkuk saw this as an absolutely unhealthy situation and was shocked that God would allow it to take place. 

Yet we should look again at how God answered Habakkuk’s fiesr complaint: 


Habakkuk 1:5 NIV 

[5] “Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/hab.1.5.NIV)


God is at the levers of history. God is at the wheel. God is in control. It is He who is unstoppable, not these powers: 


Colossians 1:16 NIV 

[16] For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/col.1.16.NIV)


Psalms 2:1-6 NIV 

[1] Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? [2] The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, [3] “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” [4] The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. [5] He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, [6] “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.2.1-6.NIV)


Human powers rise and fall. We should not be afraid of them: 


Psalms 37:1-2 NIV 

[1] Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; [2] for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.37.1-2.NIV)


Isaiah 40:6-8 NIV 

[6] A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. [7] The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. [8] The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.40.6-8.NIV)


God’s response to Habakkuk shows just how in control He is, with five destructive woes pronounced on Judah’s Babylonian aggressors: 


  • Woe to those who accrue their wealth by theft and extortion, because their creditors will arise and make them their prey (Habakkuk 2:6-8). 

  • Woe to those who build their house on unjust gain, because their very house will cry out against them (Habakkuk 2:9-11). 

  • Woe to those who build a city by bloodshed and injustice, because they exhaust themselves for nothing – the Lord will be glorified and His Name will endure (Habakkuk 2:12-14). 

  • Woe to those who get their neighbours drunk (Habakkuk 2:15-17 – a reference likely to pouring out the cup of God’s wrath, as described in Jeremiah 25:15-29, as well as actual alcohol in wine they imported from Armenia or beer they brewed themselves), because their own nakedness would be exposed. 

  • Woe to those who pray to idols, because their ridiculous, implausible lie of a religion will be exposed (Habakkuk 2:18-19). 


This section ends with one of the most ominous verses in all of Scripture:

 

Habakkuk 2:20 NIV 

[20] The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/hab.2.20.NIV)


We see a similar verse much later, when the restoration of Jerusalem was prophesied by Zechariah: 


Zechariah 2:13 NIV 

[13] Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/zec.2.13.NIV)


God’s message to Habakkuk was that He was still in control, and that one day He would silence all those who mocked both Him and His people. Until then, Habakkuk should wait patiently and faithfully, because that day would come. 

 

Conclusion 

Habakkuk 2:20 NIV 

[20] The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/hab.2.20.NIV)


Years ago, we went with our Filipino family to Singapore. That trip became one of our most treasured memories, not just because of the city itself, but because of how much they embraced and enjoyed it. 


Public transport there, for instance, is light years ahead of most cities in the world. Our family used smart ticketing, an underground train system and even double decker buses for the very first time. My parents-in-law boarded their first double decker and sat downstairs. 


My nieces and nephews did not, however. They bolted up to the top deck as if the bottom was on fire, before calling out to their grandparents to join them. They did, and sat, contented as they could be, on seats on the upper deck. 


Contented, that is, until my mother-in-law was struck with a bolt of anxiety and glanced around nervously. 


‘What’s up, Mum?’ my wife asked her. 


‘Where’s the driver?’ she asked, simultaneously perplexed and stressed. 


The rest of the family laughed really loudly.  ‘He’s downstairs, Mum.’ My wife told her. 


That is a cute and funny story we’ll be telling for generations. However, there is a point to it. When we become anxious in our life and we can’t see God behind the wheel, then everything is a million times worse. Our stress becomes intolerable. Our anxiety is sky high.


We simply lose hope and fall apart in a mess of despair. 


The book of Habakkuk is an amazing antidote for those feelings when huge international and political storylines, way outside of our control or influence, are having a serious affect on our quality of life and there is nothing at all we can do about it. 


The context of this book is one that would cause anyone anxiety, but perhaps something we can relate to: morality declining at a frightening speed, paralysis of the religious, legal and political systems that should be addressing it, looming and serious international threats from rogue powers on the horizon. 


We get it. We really do. 


But as God answers Habakkuk’s first complaint by addressing the local issues, Habakkuk complains again because he simply cannot understand why God would punish Judah with the hand of a nation as plainly evil and ruthless as Babylon. 


Yet that is precisely what God did. 


Having seen that God is just, and understood why Habakkuk was so badly confused, God’s explanation provides us with the clarity we need to survive our struggles and our long wait for God to intervene. 


God is just. He is righteous. He is holy. He is good. He is love. He is Sovereign. He is in control. He was never out of control. 


And He has this. He has it better than we ever could. 


So let’s silence our anxieties. Let’s quieten our complaints. 


Because the righteous will live by their faith through all the noise and confusion. 


Let’s cling to that faith, be strong, take heart and wait for the Lord. 

 

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, I am often puzzled, perplexed and anxious about big events that are so far outside of my control. Thank You for verses each as these that assure me You are still in control, even if I can’t see it. I trust You. Silence my anxieties, I pray. Amen. 


Questions for Contemplation  

  • How does Habakkuk shown that he still believes in a just and a fair God, despite all that is happening? Do you? 

  • What did Habakkuk complain about? How did God answer his complaint? 

  • How does our faith help us when we face situations like this? 

 

 

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