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By: Curtis Baker

Do you ever find yourself grieving over the sins so prevalent in our society? Just a quick glance at many of things taking place today can give one a sense of despair. For example, here are a few things we can all recognize at once. First, there is a breakdown of the family, the most basic unit of any flourishing society. Divorce is rampant; single parent homes are the new norm; father’s are disconnected from their families. Second, there is an obsession with violence and sex in our pop culture. Only a brief survey of today’s popular music and movies will reveal this to anyone paying attention. Third, many of the traditional positions of moral society are falling by the wayside. Soon the Supreme Court will decide whether homosexual marriage is an inherent human right. Fourth, there is a continual divide between people of different classes and races, especially when that divide has to do with the economics of rich verses poor. Fifth, there is constant political strife causing a paralysis of lawmaking where justice is almost always prevented. Add to that a vigorous foreign policy that goes unchallenged, with the constant temptation for preemptive war, never ending cycles of revenge, and other military adventures, there is plenty to mourn over. Do you ever feel like crying out to God, “Are you paying attention to this?”

If so, then I think you will identify very well with the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk. He, too, stands in the midst of a society that was once oriented toward God and sees what has happened to a people who have abandoned God for their various forms of idolatry. They are obsessed with violence (1:2). Their society is characterized by injustice (1:3). Strife and conflict were the constant norm (1:3). Habakkuk looks at all of this and concludes in verse 4 that “the law is paralyzed and true justice never prevails.”

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