Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.
— Habakkuk 1:3
God’s Seeming Toleration of Sin
Indeed, it was Habakkuk’s lot in life to behold sin. God ordained him to be a prophet. His job was to cry out for Judah’s sin and preach against it. It was a difficult, lonely job. All around Habakkuk was sin. Strife and contention were everywhere. Spoiling and violence were before him. He was living in a land full of sinful chaos. And out of a heart full of brokenness and bitterness over the sin of his country, he blames God for allowing these things to be before him. He’s accusing God for tolerating sin.
God has NEVER condoned sin. Just because the land is filled with sin and violence, doesn’t mean God is letting people get away with it. Sin WILL BE punished. The wages of sin is DEATH. Not too long after Habakkuk’s prophecy, God did punish Judah’s sin with a judgment far worse than Habakkuk imagined. Again, it seems as though Habakkuk was desiring peace in the land so that HIS life would be more pleasant. We forget that this life is only temporary. The Lord wants us to put on SPIRITUAL eyes to see the BIGGER picture!
The times we are living in right now are characterized by the same problems – iniquity, grievance, spoiling, violence, strife, and contention. Israel, the apple of God’s eye, was not spared for her iniquities. Why would our country fare any better? Just because the land is filled with sin does not mean it is condoned by the Lord. The Lord wants His people to make a firm stand in the midst of a sinful nation to shine as lights in a dark and dying world.