S131P4 – The questions of Habakkuk: God’s justice
Hab. 1:13
You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he?
The argument seems sound. God is perfect and pure, which is not what we see in this fallen world. He cannot tolerate sin, which is why the fallen angels were cast out of his heavenly kingdom. It is also why the inhabitants of the Garden were cast away from it. Those who chose sin became imperfect and could not exist in a perfect place before a perfect God. So, it would not be unreasonable to think that the evils of this world cannot exist before the presence and sight of such a holy God. He sees all, so He certainly sees the deeds of the wicked. The question is why or how God could allow this wickedness to continue right before his eyes.
It might seem to us that allowing such injustice in the world, and allowing it to befall those who have been justified, is unjust. However, we know that the Lord cannot act unjustly. In fact, that is precisely why injustice exists here before him. The enemy has authority that was handed over to him in the Garden. That authority has a season, which is not yet complete. It actually would be unjust of God to step in before the appointed time and obliterate all evil from the world. The prince of the power of the air will lose that power in time, but that time must arrive first. The real injustice resulted when we, humankind, threw away a perfect existence and handed our authority over to the one who wants only to destroy us.
That justice requires God to permit injustice seems oxymoronic. The truth is that He is not the one who permits it. That permission was granted by his creation; we have allowed evil to enter the world. Our comfort is that God, in his perfect justice, made the way for us to return to an existence devoid of evil. Wickedness exists now, but its time will end. In the interim, we can walk in the authority we now have in Christ to wage war against and see victory over injustice and wickedness. We can prevail even in this imperfect world. Father, give us a fresh revelation of what justice is, and help us to walk in the authority we have over the wickedness in this world.