It’s a topic I regularly struggle with, whenever I read the news; I’m so often hit by the injustice of this world. Some many of our problems arise from human greed for money and power, and they leave behind countless people in the chains of poverty they cannot escape from. Recently, our attention has been brought to the Thai fishing industry, built on slavery, reminding us yet again that slavery, despite being illegal, is still so apparent in our world, still destroying so many peoples’ lives. And the question I find myself asking: why does a just God allow this to happen?
I recently read this
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?”
Habakkuk 1:13
This verse struck me for two reasons.
God cannot tolerate the evil of this world. It’s an obvious statement, but so often when I am caught up in a situation I forget that it’s breaking God’s heart too. God didn’t design this world to be like it is, the world we live in is a consequence of the Fall, and it’s not how God wants it to be. When you read the law in the Old Testament you see God’s heart for the widow, the orphan, the foreigner. You see his heart for those who were powerless in society.
“Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry.
Exodus 22:21-22
Therefore, when I look upon the injustice of this world, not only do I see those injustices, but I see a world that it is not how it ought to be. And I need to recognise that God cares, and like the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8) who kept crying out for justice, so we need to get upon our knees and call out to God for his justice to come.
The second thing was that sense of liberation. I don’t need all the answers; I can ask God the big questions. All through the bible you see God’s people struggling with the big issues. Some like Habakkuk are trying to comprehend how God allows injustice, but he’s faced the greatest injustice – he’s faced the punishment we deserve in order to allow us to stand in his righteousness. Others like David and Job struggle with suffering. They’re big topics and God knows that, he knows we’ll struggle with them and he invites us to struggle through them with him.
I recognise that this blog probably hasn’t answered any questions, and in a way it’s not meant to. So I’m sorry if you came here hoping for answers, but there are two important things you call do. Pray for those who face injustice and suffering and wrestle through your questions with God, because he is the only place where you will find the answers.
(This blog was originally posted on www.belfreystudents.org/blog)
