Authentic: Justice?
From time to time one of my kids will come to me and complain about something their siblings are doing. My usual response is, “That must be really tough. How are you going to handle that?” My goal is to guide them to think through their appropriate response to the bad behavior of the people around them.
Part of this process is that they often go away without the satisfaction of seeing their sibling “get theirs”.
That’s what they really want. They want me to get really ticked at the injustice of it all, drag the other one in front of them, and publicly flog them.
What they actually get is a life lesson. Totally unsatisfying!
What they don’t realize is that I almost always approach the others about the situation and help them understand the right thing for them to do, often with consequences the others don’t know about.
So they sometimes get to the point where they say, “How long, oh dad, will I call for help, and you will not hear? I cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ yet you do not save.”
But I am doing something. I am working behind the scenes to bring a just resolution to the issue.
I do not usually bring them to a violent end. I’ll save that for the really serious situations.
In our study this Spring, we have come to one of my favorite prophets, Habakkuk.
Habakkuk looked around, saw injustice and violence being done in Judah, and complained to the LORD, “How long, O LORD, will I call for help, and you will not hear?”
God’s reply, “I am doing something. I’m bringing the Chaldeans to judge the people.”
Habakkuk: “Surely not. Can you use evil people to bring about righteous judgment?”
God: “I don’t answer to you, don’t worry about it.”
Habakkuk finally comes to the position of trust:
I heard and my inward parts trembled, At the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, And in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, For the people to arise who will invade us. Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, And makes me walk on my high places.
Habakkuk 3:16-19
God, in His sovereignty, doesn’t need us to understand what He’s doing. He is the One who will ultimately bring justice to the world, even if it’s when He draws history to it’s appointed end.
But He does want us to trust Him.
He hears the cries of His people, He sees injustice and evil, and He works for the good of His people. There may be times when it appears that evil wins. There may be times when life doesn’t seem fair. But God is “doing something in our time that we would not believe, even if we were told.”
Try this with your kids:
Ask your kids if they think you are fair when you deal out discipline with their siblings. Enter into the conversation and help them understand your process. And, if needed, admit that you are human, and that means that sometimes you will be inconsistent with discipline, but that you do your best with what you have.
Ask your kids if they think good things can come out of evil situations. Can God use evil in the world to accomplish what He wants to develop in our lives? What can we learn from evil circumstances we may be facing today?
Part of this process is that they often go away without the satisfaction of seeing their sibling “get theirs”.
That’s what they really want. They want me to get really ticked at the injustice of it all, drag the other one in front of them, and publicly flog them.
What they actually get is a life lesson. Totally unsatisfying!
What they don’t realize is that I almost always approach the others about the situation and help them understand the right thing for them to do, often with consequences the others don’t know about.
So they sometimes get to the point where they say, “How long, oh dad, will I call for help, and you will not hear? I cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ yet you do not save.”
But I am doing something. I am working behind the scenes to bring a just resolution to the issue.
I do not usually bring them to a violent end. I’ll save that for the really serious situations.
In our study this Spring, we have come to one of my favorite prophets, Habakkuk.
Habakkuk looked around, saw injustice and violence being done in Judah, and complained to the LORD, “How long, O LORD, will I call for help, and you will not hear?”
God’s reply, “I am doing something. I’m bringing the Chaldeans to judge the people.”
Habakkuk: “Surely not. Can you use evil people to bring about righteous judgment?”
God: “I don’t answer to you, don’t worry about it.”
Habakkuk finally comes to the position of trust:
I heard and my inward parts trembled, At the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, And in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, For the people to arise who will invade us. Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, And makes me walk on my high places.
Habakkuk 3:16-19
God, in His sovereignty, doesn’t need us to understand what He’s doing. He is the One who will ultimately bring justice to the world, even if it’s when He draws history to it’s appointed end.
But He does want us to trust Him.
He hears the cries of His people, He sees injustice and evil, and He works for the good of His people. There may be times when it appears that evil wins. There may be times when life doesn’t seem fair. But God is “doing something in our time that we would not believe, even if we were told.”
Try this with your kids:
Ask your kids if they think you are fair when you deal out discipline with their siblings. Enter into the conversation and help them understand your process. And, if needed, admit that you are human, and that means that sometimes you will be inconsistent with discipline, but that you do your best with what you have.
Ask your kids if they think good things can come out of evil situations. Can God use evil in the world to accomplish what He wants to develop in our lives? What can we learn from evil circumstances we may be facing today?
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