No question is more perplexing: why do bad things happen to good people? Perhaps no issue has kept more people from faith than this one. The reasoning goes that, if there is a God, He most certainly could prevent calamity.
The prophet Habakkuk raised these very questions and issues: "Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?" (Habakkuk 1:13). This gutsy prophet dared ask the hard questions on the hearts and minds of so many people. In particular, he saw the rise of a wicked and ruthless political dynasty that was destined to aggress against the people of God, and dared wonder how there could be justice in a more wicked people punishing the disobedient people of God.
Pat answers are hardly sufficient for such hard questions; only the very words of God will suffice. And it is God Himself who speaks to Habakkuk, and answers these hard questions with these words: "the righteous will live by his faith." (Habakkuk 2:4) So, it all boils down to faith, that quality without which it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). In the face of these troubling questions, simple faith is the only answer that makes any sense. Try to figure out life's injustices by your own reasoning, and it's a recipe for insanity. The best conclusion to be reached will be that of the hardened cynic: life is hard, and then you die.
Amidst Habakkuk's challenging questions is a question that provides insight into a true answer: "Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die." (Habakkuk 1:12). If Yahweh God is everlasting, and He is my God and my Holy One, then will I indeed perish forever? Hardly. To truly know the Holy and everlasting One is to experience the grace of the life of the age to come through His Son, our Savior Jesus. Amidst the perplexing issues of injustice and unjust suffering is this constant: the Self-Existing One, without beginning or end. If there is One who transcends the incongruity of this age, then there is hope for justice and equality in an age to come.
I've served as a pastor long enough to be thoroughly immersed in the pain and unjust suffering that is characteristic of life in this age. The temptation to cynicism and unbelief is very real and strong, but today faith holds on to the Eternal One. And, by His grace, it will hold on tomorrow. And the next day. And every day until faith becomes sight. And, through faith, it already IS sight. Through eyes of faith, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame leap, and the mute speaks (Isaiah 35:5-6). I know One who displayed that reality through His miracles, and gave me a glimpse of the reality to come that overshadows the unjust reality of this day.
I can see it now when I look up, instead of around. I see a new world coming from above, and faith lets me live now with one foot in that bright new world. I pray that you live now in the reality to come as well.
Steve
© 2010, Steve Taylor
The prophet Habakkuk raised these very questions and issues: "Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?" (Habakkuk 1:13). This gutsy prophet dared ask the hard questions on the hearts and minds of so many people. In particular, he saw the rise of a wicked and ruthless political dynasty that was destined to aggress against the people of God, and dared wonder how there could be justice in a more wicked people punishing the disobedient people of God.
Pat answers are hardly sufficient for such hard questions; only the very words of God will suffice. And it is God Himself who speaks to Habakkuk, and answers these hard questions with these words: "the righteous will live by his faith." (Habakkuk 2:4) So, it all boils down to faith, that quality without which it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). In the face of these troubling questions, simple faith is the only answer that makes any sense. Try to figure out life's injustices by your own reasoning, and it's a recipe for insanity. The best conclusion to be reached will be that of the hardened cynic: life is hard, and then you die.
Amidst Habakkuk's challenging questions is a question that provides insight into a true answer: "Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die." (Habakkuk 1:12). If Yahweh God is everlasting, and He is my God and my Holy One, then will I indeed perish forever? Hardly. To truly know the Holy and everlasting One is to experience the grace of the life of the age to come through His Son, our Savior Jesus. Amidst the perplexing issues of injustice and unjust suffering is this constant: the Self-Existing One, without beginning or end. If there is One who transcends the incongruity of this age, then there is hope for justice and equality in an age to come.
I've served as a pastor long enough to be thoroughly immersed in the pain and unjust suffering that is characteristic of life in this age. The temptation to cynicism and unbelief is very real and strong, but today faith holds on to the Eternal One. And, by His grace, it will hold on tomorrow. And the next day. And every day until faith becomes sight. And, through faith, it already IS sight. Through eyes of faith, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame leap, and the mute speaks (Isaiah 35:5-6). I know One who displayed that reality through His miracles, and gave me a glimpse of the reality to come that overshadows the unjust reality of this day.
I can see it now when I look up, instead of around. I see a new world coming from above, and faith lets me live now with one foot in that bright new world. I pray that you live now in the reality to come as well.
Steve
© 2010, Steve Taylor
posted by steve @ 7:26 AM
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