When Life Is Unfair and God Is Silent

Copyright 2011 by Bob Rogers

The ancient prophet Habakkuk was troubled by the very contemporary problem of why God didn’t seem to do anything about evil.

We can identify with Habakkuk. Life seems unfair, and when we pray, sometimes it seems like God isn’t hearing us and isn’t doing anything about it.

It’s kind of like getting stuck in quicksand. When a person gets stuck in quicksand, the harder they try to get out, the deeper and faster they go under. The harder they try, the worse things get because the nature of quicksand is to pull them down the more they move. Likewise, the harder you try to fight your problem, the more you feel like you are sinking. Let's look at how Habakkuk dealt with it.

I. Habakkuk’s complaint (1:12-2:1)

A. Life is unfair (1:13a)

Habakkuk could not understand why God was using Babylon to punish Judah. Judah was bad, but Babylon was worse. It didn’t seem fair. So Habakkuk said, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?” He was referring to Babylon’s total depravity.

Sometimes life seems unfair like that to us. When an umpire or referee makes a bad call, our sense of justice is offended, and we want to jump up and shout “unfair!” We demand for a correction. We want instant replay and the ability to reverse a bad call.

On July 26, 2011, the Atlanta Braves were playing the Pittsburgh Pirates. The game was tied 3-3 after 19 innings. Umpire Jerry Meals was behind the plate. Julio Lugo was on third base. Relief pitcher Scott Proctor was batting. Proctor had 2 strikes on him and hit the ball to third base. The third baseman threw the ball home, and the catcher Michael McKenry got the ball and tagged Lugo on the leg before he even got to the plate, but umpire Jerry Meals called him safe, anyway. The instant replays clearly showed that Proctor was out, but the umpire called him safe. A lot of the Pirates players had to be restrained, they were so upset they wanted to attack the umpire.

Atlanta Braves announcer Chip Caray said on the air, “Folks, this is one that will be talked about for a while.” Bryan Jordan said, “This may be one of the worst plays we have ever seen by an umpire.” Boy, was he ever right. The next day even the news stations were talking about the bad call. But no matter how much the Pirates fans fussed about the unfair call, the Braves still won the game.

Sometimes, life is unfair like that. We get upset at a bad call in a ballgame, but what about the 12.4 million people in Somalia and the Horn of Africa who are in danger of starving to death? A drought has caused hard-working farmers and cattle owners to lose their crops and their cattle, and wander with their families in search of food. But warlords and terrorists are preventing relief organizations from getting food to the refugee camps. How do we explain that?

B. God is silent (1:13b)

Habakkuk went on to complain, “Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” As the evil empire of Babylon destroyed nations and cities that weren’t as bad as them, God seemed to do nothing.

C.S. Lewis wrote in his book, A Grief Observed, of how he felt God was silent when he lost his wife. He said that when he prayed, he felt like God had slammed the door in his face and bolted the door shut.

In Habakkuk 2:1, the prophet wrote of keeping watch on the “ramparts,” that is, the lookout tower on the city wall, waiting for an answer to “this complaint.” Actually, the Hebrew word is stronger than “complaint.” A more literal translation would be “rebuke” or “reprimand.” Strong words for God, and many people who struggle with the problem of pain and the question of suffering and evil in the world are just as harsh in their condemnation of God. “Where is God?” they ask. He’s abandoned us. He’s silent.

What is the answer to all this? Habakkuk strained to get an answer, and beginning in Habakkuk 2:2, the answer came.

II. The Lord’s answer (2:2-20)

The Lord gave an answer in verses 2-4, and then elaborated on the answer in the rest of chapter two. In verse 2, the Lord let him know that the answer was so significant that it should be written down on “tablets” and a “herald” should run with the news to share it. The answer came in two parts, in verse 3 and verse 4.

A. Wait on the Lord (2:3)

The first part of the Lord’s answer was to have patience, and learn to wait on the Lord. “For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”

Billy Graham says, “Tears become telescopes to heaven, bringing eternity a little closer.” (Billy Graham in Quotes, p. 337) Through patient waiting in our suffering, we get closer to God.

God plans to work in His timing. The Lord was letting Habakkuk know that it would prove true, not false, and would certainly come. But he had to await the “appointed time.” He had to “wait for it.”

We know from history that in the appointed time, God judged Judah and God judged Babylon as well. Jerusalem and all of Judah fell in 586 B.C.; Jerusalem’s gates and temple were burned down, and the people taken into exile. But in 539 B.C. Babylon fell, as the capital was captured in a single night by the Persians.

In verses 6-20, the Lord goes into detail about the wickedness of Babylon and how He planned to punish them. These verses have two sections of five “woe’s” upon Babylon. Each of the two sections end with a statement about God’s greatness in contrast to Babylon’s sin.

In verses 6-8 he pronounces a “woe” upon the sin of greed. In verses 9-11 he pronounces a “woe” upon the sin of exploitation. In verses 12-14 he pronounces a “woe” upon the sin of cruel violence. Then in verse 14 he says, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”

In verses 15-17 he pronounces a “woe” upon the sin of drunkenness and debauchery. In verses 18-19 he pronounces a “woe” upon the sin of idol worship. Then in verse 20 he says, “But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.”

It’s hard to wait on the Lord when life seems unfair and we don’t see Him doing anything right now, and He seems to be silent. But we must learn to trust Him and wait.

Isaiah said those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength and soar on wings as eagles (Isaiah 40:31, KJV). So wait on the Lord. One day the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Don’t give up. Keep waiting upon the Lord, for despite all of the evil around us, the Lord is still in His holy temple, and we need to be silent in worship before Him.

B. Live by faith (2:4)

Verse 4 is the key verse of Habakkuk. Talking about the pride of Babylon, the verse begins, “See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright…” The HCSB translates it, “His ego is inflated.” Then the key part comes at the end of verse 4, the words that they should write down, the words the herald should run with and proclaim. Here it is: “the righteous will live by his faith.” The apostle Paul quoted this part of the verse in Romans 1:17 and made it the theme verse of his letter to the Romans, and it is also quoted in Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38. It can be translated two ways: “the righteous will live by his faith” or “the righteous will live by his faithfulness.” Either way, it means basically the same thing, because if we have real faith we will be faithful.

For fifty-one years Bob Edens was blind. He couldn't see a thing. His world was a black hall of sounds and smells. He felt his way through five decades of darkness. And then, he could see.

A skilled surgeon performed a complicated operation and, for the first time, Bob had sight. He found it overwhelming. "I never would have dreamed that yellow is so ... yellow," he exclaimed. "I don't have the words. I am amazed by yellow. But red is my favorite color. I just can't believe red.

"I can see the shape of the moon—and I like nothing better than seeing a jet plane flying across the sky leaving a vapor trail. And of course, sunrises and sunsets. And at night I look at the stars in the sky and the flashing light. You could never know how wonderful everything is." (Max Lucado, God Came Near.)

Your life may seem like a blind alley right now. But hold on. Dr. Jesus wants to open your spiritual eyes. He wants to perform faith surgery. Will you let Him? If you do, you will live… by faith.

At the beginning of this sermon, I said that Habakkuk’s problem was like getting stuck in quicksand. Now, the person who knows how to handle quicksand knows that he should not fight it. Instead, he should paddle underneath, moving an inch here and an inch there, slowly getting to the bank.

That’s the way many of are problems are. If we strike out in anger against God and fight it, we will just sink into despair and bitterness. But if we will learn to wait on the Lord and live by faith, we can make it. Even though we cannot see the shore right now, if we will just hang on, and keep on paddling underneath even when we feel like giving up, in time, if we’ll be patient, God is going to bring us home. (Adapted from Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations, p. 239.)

In 1856, Henry Brown, a slave in Richmond, Virginia, decided he didn’t want to be a slave anymore, and he was going to take a huge risk in order to be free.

Henry Brown found himself a box, a wooden crate, and postmarked it to an abolitionist in Philadelphia, which was in free territory. Henry Brown got inside the box, sealed the box from the inside, and mailed himself to Philadelphia.

Henry Brown was banking on the U.S. Postal Service to deliver him. He was in slavery and needed to be free. The abolitionist got the crate. When he opened the box, Henry Brown stood up, after being in that box three weeks, and said, “How do you do, sir. My name is Henry Brown and I was a slave. I heard about you being an abolitionist, so I’m entrusting my future to you.”

That was a big risk. It was an oxygen risk, a risk of being discovered, a risk of going hungry. But when Henry Brown stood up in Philadelphia, he was a free man. It was worth the risk. (Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations, p. 42.)

Waiting on the Lord and living faithfully in spite of our troubles is like that. It’s hard. It’s a risk. But it’s worth it, because in the end, God will deliver us. Henry Brown entrusted his future to an abolitionist he had never met, in a land he had never visited. How about you? Will you trust your future to God, even though you haven’t seen Him, to take you to a land you haven’t seen yet? That’s what it means when it says, “the righteous will live by faith.” Will you?

Copyright 2011 by Bob Rogers

A perfect response to an imperfect call

Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga had a perfect game, no-hitter going in the ninth inning, with two outs against the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday, June 2. Jason Donald of the Indians hit a ground ball and ran to first base, as Galarraga ran to first, put his foot on the bag, and caught the ball thrown to him before Donald touched the base. Third out, and a perfect game, he thought. Then he looked up in surprise to see umpire Jim Joyce signal "safe."
Video instant replays showed that the umpire was wrong. But the wrong call had been made. "I cost the kid a perfect game," Joyce said afterwards, and sought the pitcher out to apologize to him. Galarraga said he was happy with winning the game and he appreciated the umpire's apology.
A lot of people are crying foul and even calling for the official record of the game to be changed. But I think we can learn some valuable lessons here.
First, from the umpire's mistake, we should remember that nobody's perfect. The Bible puts it this way: "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Jim Joyce has been an umpire since 1989. He has a great reputation as a great umpire. But no umpire is perfect. There is only one perfect Judge, and He's God, not a man. So before we get all self-righteous and condemn the umpire, let's take a look at ourselves. All of us make mistakes. Few of us would admit our mistakes the way Jim Joyce did.
Second, from the pitcher's response, we can learn graciousness. Proverbs 15:1 says, "A soft answer turns away wrath." By taking the high road, Galaragga showed himself not only to be a good pitcher, but also a good man. I pray that millions of boys will pay more attention to how Galaragga handled himself when he was wronged than how some other athletes handle themselves. After all, nobody said that life is fair. It may sound trite, but it's true that when life gives you lemons, you can still make lemonade.
So bravo for Jim Joyce and Armando Galaragga! May we learn from them both.

Terry Sedlacek and Bernie Madoff, Meet Fred Winters

We have seen so much evil this past week. On Sunday, March 8, Terry Sedlacek walked into the early worship service at First Baptist Church, Maryville, Illinois, and shot to death pastor Fred Winters while Winters was preaching. Police later found that Sedlacek had written on his daily planner that Sunday was “death day.”

On Tuesday, March 10, Michael McClendon, 28, went on a shooting rampage and killed 10 people, including his own mother.

On Wednesday, March 11, Tim Kretschner, 17, shot and killed 15 people, mostly high school students in Winnenden, Germany and then shot himself.

On Thursday, March 12, financial schemer Bernard Madoff was sentenced to life in prison for the largest Ponzi scheme in history, as he cheated thousands of investors out of $65 billion.

How are we to respond to these things?

Psalm 37:1 says, “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong.” The Psalmist is not denying the reality of evil; in fact, he admits that evil men may even succeed in their schemes (v. 7), use violence against good people (v. 14), and borrow money without repaying it (v. 21).

Their end, however, will eventually come. Verse 35 says, "I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree in its native soil." If he stopped there, the psalmist would seem to be saying that the wicked get away with murder. But verse 36 goes on to say, "But he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found." In fact, five times in the psalm he says the wicked will be "cut off," literally "rooted out." (See v. 8, 22, 28, 34, 38.)

Jesus Himself quoted Psalm 37:11, which reminds us that in the end, "the meek will inherit the earth." (See Matthew 5:5).

So how are godly people to respond to evil?

Refrain from fretting. "Do not fret because of evil men... Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-- it only leads to evil." (Psalm 37:1, 8)

Rejoice in fellowship. "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4). If you delight yourself in the things of the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart. This does not mean that you will get anything you ask for selfishly. It means that as you delight in the Lord, your desires become God’s desires.

Rest in the Lord. "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes." (Psalm 37:7).

Last Sunday, when Terry Sedlacek entered First Baptist Church of Maryville, Illinois, he met Pastor Fred Winters face to face as he walked down the aisle, armed with enough ammunition to kill 30 people.

According to observers, Pastor Fred greeted Sedlacek, saying, “Good morning.”

How sad that Sedlacek did not really get to know Pastor Fred. Fred Winters faithfully served that same church for 22 years. He went to Maryville in 1987, when the church only averaged 32 people in attendance. When he died, the church was averaging 1,200 in attendance.

Christians all over the nation are still in shock at the news of this pastor’s murder. We search for words to express our feelings. We wonder how to respond. But in Psalm 37 we find our answer again.

Do not fret or respond in anger over evil. Evil men may seem to win now, but in the end, they will lose!

Delight yourself in the things of the Lord. That is why Fred Winters did all of his life. He spent his life touching others for Jesus Christ. What the world needs is for people like Terry Sedlacek and Bernie Madoff to meet people like Fred Winters now.

You and I cannot change what evil has happened in the past. But we can be a lighthouse for Christ in an evil world today and in the future. We can live faithfully for Christ like Fred Winters did, so that when we meet others, they will see Christ in us.

Trust in the Lord. Rest in God, and know that God will make all things right in the end.

Isn’t that the message of the cross? God took an evil event, the murder of His Son Jesus Christ on the cross, and turned it into payment for our sin.

If God can do that with the evil committed against His own Son, then God can bring good out of the evil that we face in our own time. In fact, God did that last Sunday. You see, Terry Sedlacek had enough ammunition to kill 30 people, but after he shot Fred Winters, his gun jammed, and two members of the church subdued him. Was that an accident that his gun jammed? I don't think so. It's just another reminder that when evil seems to prevail, God is at work. And ultimately, He will make all things right. Trust in the Lord.