April 4, 2022 - Habakkuk 1:3-4, 13

“Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; 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 1:3-4, 13 NIV

Lord, it is easy to look at our world and get discouraged. We often feel surrounded by evil. It seems that any direction we look we see greed, selfishness, and pride ruling the hearts of men. Like in Habakkuk’s day, we can ask, “Lord, where are you in all of this? When will you put a stop to all this injustice?” But Lord, we know that you are not ignoring what is happening in our world and you are moving.

We praise you for the things that you are doing and how you are turning what the enemy meant for evil to good. Lord, we pray for an awakening in the church. Show us how to stand up for righteousness in a way that brings you glory and pushes back the evil one. Take our prayer life to a deeper level. Show us how to take from the enemy “ground” all over the world without ever leaving our prayer closets.

I love that in this passage Habakkuk is crying to you about all the evil and asking you to do something, but he doesn’t allow the evil happening around him to taint his view of you. Even as he asks “why”, he knows that you are still in charge. He still recognizes your holiness and pureness. Lord, as we see all the evil around us and as it even touches our lives personally, we stand on the fact that you are still good and loving. You want what is best for all of us and evil isn’t from you. Teach us how to become solutions to the problems and not blame you for them.

In Jesus name, amen.