1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
Habakkuk’s Complaint
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Hab 1). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
Abba,
Isn’t this the cry of the ages…
At least of the saints. Of those who love righteousness.
I know it is the cry of my own heart.
The brokenness, injustice, crime, wickedness, and suffering caused by that sin is ever before my eyes and a burden upon my heart.
The foolish arrogance.
The willful defiance
The selfish clamoring
The hurtful retaliation
The sweet enticing deadliness of man’s “wisdom”
The kaleidoscope burst of the enchantress of evil
The despicable allure of the viper’s poison
It all presses in upon this world with deadly precision and violent power.
The wicked flourish
The righteous suffer
Your name is profaned
Your glory robbed
Your majesty scorned
Your authority defied
Your goodness ignored
Your love redefined to mean something it is not.
Oh Abba, in many ways, my heart echo’s that of Habakkuk.
How long will you watch the evil of the world go unchecked?
How long will you stand by and let it happen?
How evil does the day have to get before you decide enough is enough?
How much more suffering must your creation endure?
Suddenly, in this moment, as I pray these very words, your Spirit moves upon me and it occurs to me, if we are suffering this badly, how much must you be suffering?
You who have less tolerance for evil than even we.
The sin is more heinous to you, purest of pure, sinless of sinless, righteous of righteous, than it is to us who still dabble, wrestle, and give way to the desires that weigh upon our flesh.
We know nothing of the suffering of the evil that you know.
Nothing.
We do not know evil and its consequences in the same way you do.
Jesus…oh Jesus…asking the question now, feels wrong. We complain of the unchecked sin…sin you bore…sin that marred you…sin that turned the Father’s wrath upon you…sin that crushed you…sin that cursed you…sin that destroyed the greatest beauty of all existence…
The very sins that you now wait to punish
Enduring and suffering daily
Patiently enduring
Watching from heaven
Sins that grieved then, grieve now, and grieve each time they repeat
What do I; what do WE know of suffering the evils of sin?
We cry out of our ignorance.
We cry out of our suffering.
We cry out of our love for your glory
But we don’t know; we don’t understand what we cry out
We don’t truly know.
We have not felt the true horrors of suffering, of sin.
Only you, Jesus, know that pain.
Only you, Father, know that pain.
Only you, Spirit, know that pain.
And yet, you prolong.
You wait.
You endure.
You suffer.
You know what you are doing.
You have a plan.
You always enact perfect justice because you are God.
You cannot fail to execute perfect justice.
You cannot fail to address sin.
Though for a time, it runs out of control
Though for a time, it rages with fury upon this world
Though for a time, it ravages everything good and true….
It will not always be so.
While we wait for that day…
And wait we must
For we have no power or authority to bring it to an end before the allotted time
So, while we wait for that day….
We trust.
We obey.
We worship.
Your “inaction” is not indifference.
Your “silence” is not callousness
The presence of evil and suffering is not a testimony of your weakness
In fact, just the opposite.
It is a sign of strength.
How much might must it take to keep your justice and holiness from simply obliterating that evil that slanders your name, mars your glory and slaughtered your son?
What restraint it took to preserve Israel in their rebellion.
What restraint it must take now to preserve us.
How much might must it take to hold back the wrath of heaven; of a divine nature that has every right and authority to destroy evil without a hint or shred of wrongness?
What restraint it takes to preserve creation for a time, sin and all.
What’s more….
Your inaction against injustice is a sign of love.
Why would you suffering the sins of man for so long?
For no other reason than you desire that men repent and come to you.
Your suffering long; your enduring of evil; the restraint of your wrath affords man the opportunity to escape the coming wave of wrath that WILL be unleashed on the unrighteousness and wickedness of man; that will answer the cry of the sufferers.
Abba, we cry out.
We scream for deliverance
We bewail injustice and demand it be set right.
But we do so in foolish carelessness
Missing the greatness of the God who simply CANNOT ignore the injustice and sin of the world or else cease to be God.
In fact, WHO DID NOT ignore the injustice and sin of the world but sent a Savior to address those wrongs
AND WHO NOW WAITS WITH PATIENCE, enduring the suffering of wickedness to afford as many as who will, as many who are called, the opportunity to repent, to believe, and to be saved from the coming wrath.
Though our hearts cry
And our souls yearn for justice and cessation of suffering
We wait
And we trust
And we give thanks for so great a salvation that has been supplied to us.
May others yet find it before it is too late.
A Singular Passion 