March 21

Habakkuk

            O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous—therefore judgment comes forth perverted.

Habakkuk 1:2-4

            You are to be forgiven if you do not have an encyclopedic knowledge of Habakkuk.  It is three chapters, nestled away in the minor prophets towards the end of the Old Testament.  At the core of the text is an interaction between God and Habakkuk.  Some would call it an argument.  Some would call it authentic dialogue.  It begins with the passage above.  Habakkuk is…complaining…questioning…calling to God’s attention the injustices of the world.  He sees the brokenness of his world and asks God why.  Why is this world full of hatred and violence?  Why is their such corruption in power?  Why do the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer and where are You in all of that?

            The simple answer that we know and that Habakkuk knows is that the world is broken because of mankind’s sin and selfishness…but that is not the heart of Habakkuk’s question.  “Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble?”  Why do I need to see all the hurt and all the injustice and all of the suffering?  Can I not simply hide from the troubles of this world?  Couldn’t I simply care about the challenges that face myself and my family?  I understand his question completely.  But I have found that the more that we learn about Jesus and the Gospel and God’s heart, the more that we will see in the world that drives us to lamentation.  We start to see the invisible people of our world: the homeless, the sick, the abandoned and the poor.  They can no longer be ignored as they are beloved children of God, our brothers and sisters who have been rolled over by life in ways that should drive us to tears and compassion, not contempt.

            Similarly, the more that we learn about disabilities and delays, the more we see their effects throughout all of society.  How many acts of violence and crime are driven by mental illness?  How many of the horrible things that we see on the news were committed by people who were not in their right mind?  How many of our homeless population are on the autism spectrum and have ended up on the streets because they do not have the resources to manage their senses?  Our systems of treatment and care have historically failed these individuals because it is simply easier and cheaper in the short term to lock them up instead of building them up.  In the long term, what we have created is a systemic incarceration of individuals with disabilities and delays, confining them to either jails, institutions or life on the streets.

            There are groups that work to catch those who have fallen through the cracks, government agencies who are constantly fighting budget cuts and non-profits who overwork and undertrain their staff because the need is so great and the resources are so limited.  The entire system is so big and so complex and so broken that it makes me sad and angry and so scared for my son as he grows up and moves out of our house.   

            God does not show us injustice to simply make us sad.  He shows us injustice so that we can act and use our resources to champion the oppressed.  And He shows us injustice so that we can see the invisible people and connect with them, offering compassion and relationship and hope to those who are used to being overlooked.  Here are a few things that we can do, simple steps to respond to what we see:

·         Befriend someone who has disabilities other than your child.  Not just their parents, not just their care provider.  Love that person just like you hope someone will love your child some day.

·         Advocate.  There are always looming budget cuts or restrictions.  Find a local disabilities advocacy group and lend your testimony to their petitions.

·         Give of your time or money.  Consider supporting a local non-profit that does good work.

·         Pray.  It is good and right and appropriate to bring a heart that is heavy and grieving to God.  Habakkuk does it and God responds.  God’s heart has been hurting for our world long before our heartbeat began.  One of the ways that we can be like Him and partner with him is through lamenting the pain and praying towards healing and restoration.

           

A moment to reflect:

Where do you see injustice in the world around you?