WHY DOES EVIL GO UNPUNISHED?

Habakkuk 1:1-4

INTRODUCTION:   

Toward the end of the Old Testament (in fact, page 794 out of 809 pages in the Old Testament in my Bible), there is the little book of Habakkuk.  If you are like most of us, you probably know very little about this book.  But you will come to know a lot about this book over the next thirteen weeks if you will give us your attendance and your attention because between the first of the year and Easter, this is where I intend for us to camp out, settle down and dig in.

Not only do most of us know very little about the book of Habakkuk, we know very little about the man, Habakkuk.  We do not know who his parents were.  We do not know where he was born.  Or when.  We do not know what he did for a living.  In fact, about all we know about this enigmatic character is his name.  The name “Habakkuk” means “to grasp”, “to hold” or “to embrace”.  Perhaps, that is all we need know.

The book of Habakkuk is unusual in that it contains no prophecy directed to the people of Israel.  Instead, it is a conversation between the prophet and God: a conversation in which Habakkuk asks many of the same tough questions you and I ask.

Of all the amazing aspects of the Bible, perhaps the most arresting is that the Bible makes no attempt to gloss over the sins of its heroes or the questions of its spokesmen.

Over the next 13 weeks, we’ll look at God’s answers to Habakkuk’s questions such as:

·        Can God use the ungodly to accomplish His will?

·        Does God grade on the curve?

·        Can you trust God?

·        What will become of the greedy?

·        What will become of the dishonest?

·        What will become of my stuff when I die?

·        What will become of the predators (sexual, emotional, financial – even spiritual predators)?

And more besides.  Now be honest: haven’t you asked some of these questions yourself?  I have. 

So I invite you to clear your calendar on Sunday mornings between now and Easter and let’s study together God’s answers to the tough questions.

In Habakkuk 1:1-4 the prophet raises the first of these difficult questions; one I suspect we’ve all asked: “Why does evil go unpunished?”

1     The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received.

Habakkuk’s Complaint

^2 How long, O Lord, must I call for help,

but you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!”

but you do not save?

^3 Why do you make me look at injustice?

Why do you tolerate wrong?

Destruction and violence are before me;

there is strife, and conflict abounds.

^4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,

and justice never prevails.

The wicked hem in the righteous,

so that justice is perverted.

Or, in other words, “Why does evil go unpunished?”

Do you remember that I said that Habakkuk’s name meant “to grasp”, “to hold” or “to embrace”?  That may provide us with a structure for approaching this text. 

Habakkuk’s name could mean, “to grasp”. 

I.                    HABAKKUK GRASPED HIS PROBLEM. 

Habakkuk’s problem was that his experience and his beliefs were not matching up: he believed in a loving and powerful God but he saw evil going unpunished.

Habakkuk saw violent criminals who didn’t get caught or punished so brutality was on the increase and God’s people were not exempted from the effects of the violence in their land.  Now that doesn’t seem right, does it?  Shouldn’t the wicked be caught and punished and shouldn’t God’s children be spared the violence?  But Habakkuk’s observation was that the brutal, vicious and cruel criminals often get off without punishment and good people, even God’s people, get hurt by them.  Why?  I’ve asked that question many times.

Habakkuk saw injustice in the land.  Powerful people wrong the innocent little guy and they get away with it.  Wealthy CEOs, big-time athletes, powerful politicians and famous celebrities get one level of justice while the poor get another…or none at all.  That was Habakkuk’s observation.  And mine, too.

Habakkuk saw wrong (immorality, dishonesty, wickedness) all around him and God seemed to be tolerating it.  “Why?” he wanted to know.  “Why?” I want to know.  If God is all-powerful, can’t He do something to stop all of this?  And if He is all-loving, why doesn’t He?

Habakkuk saw destruction, strife and conflict all around him and God seemed to merely look on with mild disinterest.  Habakkuk saw that the law, which was supposed to protect all people, was paralyzed (that is his word for it), so that justice never seems to prevail.  He saw the righteous people hemmed in by the wicked so that justice seemed never to prevail.  And he wanted to know why.

You know, I’ve seen the same things and I want to know why, too.  Why do hardworking people seem to fall further and further behind while the fat-cat CEOs raid their pensions, loot the company coffers, preside over failure and then get platinum parachutes when they quit? 

You have to have heard about Bob Nardelli, the recently retired chairman and chief executive of Home Depot.  For six years Nardelli directed the world’s largest home-improvement chain and received $123.7 million in compensation.  When Nardelli resigned, he was given a tidy $210 million in severance to help cushion his retirement while investors, who have Home Depot stock as part of their retirement portfolios, saw their stock prices drop throughout Nardelli’s tenure. 

Habakkuk might want to ask why the guy that got $123.7 million for losing money for the company, got a $210 million retirement package but the guys in the orange aprons, working for little more then minimum wage, lost money in their retirement plans. 

Habakkuk’s name could mean, “to hold”.

II.                  HABAKKUK HELD TO HIS FAITH. 

Habakkuk grasped the problem of inequity and injustice.  And so have you.  And Habakkuk turned to the Lord to ask for answers.  And so have you.

Verse 2 begins, “How long, O Lord, must I call for help…?”  In the midst of his crisis, Habakkuk still held to his faith.  In the midst of his questions, he still held to his Lord. 

Some people will try to tell you that it is a sign of a lack of faith when we ask the Lord “Why?”  I want to tell you that I think it is a sign of authentic faith when we ask the Lord, “Why?”  Rather than turning to other sources for the answers to the problems that perplex and the questions that confuse, people of authentic faith turn to the Lord.  They hold to their faith in spite of the circumstances that distress them.

To whom are you turning for understanding, insight and perspective?  Some have allowed the difficulties of life to turn them from the Lord while others allow the difficulties of life to turn them toward the Lord.  

In Isaiah 33, the great prophet of Israel tells of God’s wrath, like a consuming fire, devouring the enemies that had encircled Jerusalem.  Within Jerusalem, the City of God, some were relieved to see God’s deliverance but some were terrified at this manifestation of God’s justice.  Verse 33 reads, “The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless. ‘Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire?  Who of us can dwell with the everlasting burning?’” 

For some people the wrath of God on His enemies was a welcome relief.  For others, it was a terrible threat.  The difference was their relationship with the Lord.  The same fire that purifies gold or cures pottery, burns-off alloys and consumes stubble.

That is the principle behind the truth that adversity turns some people to the Lord and turns others from the Lord.  It just depends on what they are made of.

Observing the immorality, inequity and injustice of the world, Habakkuk held to his faith and turned to the Lord for answers.

Habakkuk’s name could mean, “to embrace”.

III.                HABAKKUK EMBRACED HIS LORD. 

Habakkuk grasped the problem, held to his faith and embraced his Lord.  He not only turned to the Lord with his questions, he trusted the Lord for his answers.

Here is the principle: when your experience does not match up with your beliefs, don’t trust your experience; trust your Lord.

The Lord tells you that he loves you.  Your experiences and observations may cause you to wonder but don’t trust your experiences and observations; trust the Lord. 

The Lord tells you that justice will triumph over evil.  What you see around you leads you to question that assurance.  Don’t trust in appearances; trust in the Lord.

The Lord said that the meek will inherit the earth but it looks as if the meek get nothing and the pushy get ahead.  Don’t trust your limited observations; trust the Lord.

When our daughter, Cherish, was born, she was born with a hole in her heart.  At the age of five, her cardiologist decided it was time to do surgery to repair the hole.  She looked healthy to us.  By all appearances, she was just fine.  But he discerned something we could not perceive by merely human observation.

So one day, we carried her to an operating room, kissed her goodbye and handed her life into the hands of a man we barely knew.  In the operating room, they cut open her chest, lifted her heart out of its protective home and connected her to a machine that took over the function of her heart.  Then the cardiologist stopped her heart, cut it open and sewed a Teflon patch over the hole in the septum between the two lower chambers. 

We did not witness the surgery but if we had, I’m sure it would have torn our hearts out, too.  We did not know all the steps and stages to this operation and we did not know what needed to happen next so that Cherish could be healed.

Can you imagine what would have happened if we had stopped the surgeon at any stage in this process and had told him to stop right where he was and hand our daughter back to us?  Her birth defect would not have been corrected and, if we had taken her from the surgeon’s hands part way through the surgery, we would have cost our daughter her life.

Too often, we try to take ourselves off of the operating table of the Great Physician when He is not yet finished correcting and perfecting us.  We look at what is happening around us and we judge God to be ignorant, impotent or incompetent.  But that is because we do not know as He knows.

Habakkuk has left us an inspiring example of trusting the Lord and embracing Him and His will for our lives.

CONCLUSION:      

Habakkuk just may have been named for his relationship with the Lord: one who grasps, who holds to, who embraces.

If you were named for your relationship with God, what would we call you?  Would your name be “Fragile” or “Fickle” or “Frail”?  Would you be called “Stalwart” or “Strong” or “Steadfast”?  Or, if you were named for your relationship with the Lord, would we have to say that you have no name?  If you want, you can start the new year with a new name: “Christian”. 

Back to Sermons