Sermon

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4

Why All the Violence?

This week it was reported in Michigan that a 3-year old girl was shot and killed at a daycare center in Detroit. Unfortunately stories like this one happen every day. How anyone could kill a child is beyond my understanding. Perhaps it’s my imagination but incidents of this nature seem to be on the increase. The murder of over 150 children last month in Russia was unbelievable. In places like Iraq and Palestine, children are killed just about every week. When will it all end?

Like many of you I keep asking myself; how can God allow these awful tragedies to happen? If God is love, why doesn’t God intervene and save the children? The world seems to be indifferent to these events because nothing changes, the violence continues.

Whenever I hear about senseless killing I cringe. I feel a sickness in my stomach and a chill goes up my spine. I am burdened with the futility of war, all the killings and especially the casualties of war. Sometimes I want to scream. Sometimes I weep. I pray constantly for the end of war, that nations will lay down their weapons and love their neighbors. But nothing seems to change. I feel helpless to make a difference.

It’s been years since anyone close to me has died. I especially remember 8-year old Steve Hamilton. His family belonged to my home church and we often went on camping trips together. Steve died of a brain tumor when I was in college. At the time his death challenged my faith. How could a loving God let that happen?

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The majority of people seem to be indifferent about senseless killings until they happen close to home. Every day my wife drives by a cemetery in Champaign County where two children were found along the fence line several years ago. Their step-father had strangled them. When I drive by that place I can’t help but forget the unforgivable murder of those two children. It all comes back as if it happened only yesterday. This story is even closer to home for me since our daughter was one of the journalists who covered the story. She has asked the same question that I asked when my friend died. “Dad, how can God let this happen?”

If it appears that I am complaining to God then so be it. I am overwhelmed whenever I see violence, injustice or when one group oppresses another group. When I read the complaint of Habakkuk, the prophet, I find I am not alone. He too complained to God about all the violence in his time. He was concerned about helpless victims. He said, “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you ‘violence!’ and you will not save?”

Habakkuk was concerned with the injustices of world politics. The leaders of his time were in opposition to the justice of God. The legal system favored the rich over the poor who were exploited. There was also a breakdown of social order. “The law is slack,” he said, and “justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous.”

In Habakkuk’s time authentic religion required public dedication to principles of fairness and equality. Therefore, the prophet concerned himself with inequities in the judicial system and the exploitation of the poor by the rich. Prophets were the ones who held society’s elite accountable. They spoke up against the abuse of power.

I wonder where the prophets are today. Where is the still, small voice of God who is willing to speak against the powerful people of our time? In our own society it has become unpopular and unpatriotic to speak out against war. Yet, the violence continues. Surely there is a voice who has the courage to say, “enough is enough.”

Habakkuk argued with God as did all the prophets. His argument didn’t grow from hostility but from a passionate search for the ways of God. He asked the same question that our daughter asked; “If God is really good and in control of the world, how can such injustices happen?”

Rabbi Kushner raised the same question when his 11-year old son, Aaron, died. He just couldn’t accept that notion that God would let a young child die for no apparent reason. The tragedy led him to write the book, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” In the book he says “God does not cause our misfortunes. Some are caused by bad luck, some are caused by bad people, and some are simply an inevitable consequence of our being human and being mortal, living in a world of inflexible natural laws. The painful things that happen to us are not punishments for our misbehavior, nor are they in any way part of some grand design on God’s part. Because the tragedy is not god’s will, we need not feel hurt or betrayed by God when tragedy strikes. We can turn God for help in overcoming it. Precisely, because we can tell ourselves that God is as outraged by it as we are.”

After Habakkuk complained to God, God responded. You may or may not like God’s answer, but we cannot say that God does not listen. God is not deaf, God is not indifferent and God does not remain silent. God, however responds on God’s time frame not ours. Habakkuk had to wait. God cannot be forced into our time frame. God does not speak at our convenience. God responds, but on God’s terms.

So, our feelings of helplessness and laments over the violence in the world requires patience. As the psalmist said, “Wait for the Lord, and keep to his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on the destruction of the wicked.” (Psalm 37:34) Habakkuk had to wait. He said, “I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me and what he will answer concerning my complaint.” God’s response followed a time of waiting. God responds to our cries too, but we have to be patient.

Secondly, God reminded Habakkuk there is still a vision. The righteous who long for justice will receive the strength to continue, not because everything will become just or that they will be rewarded for their efforts, but because they possess a larger vision of the way things should be. “For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.” In other words, God wants us to place a greater reliability on God’s eternal vision rather than the brutal events of the present. We live as “what could be,” a world of peace and harmony not yet realized, rather than dwell on the injustices and tragedies of the times.

Rabbi Harold Kushner says we can ask “Why” until we are blue in the face. And, in life we may never receive an answer. We can question and argue with God about every injustice, tragedy and senseless act of evil that we witness, but to ask “why” is futile. What we really need to ask is “What.” What can I do to make things better? Where in the world can I work to correct the injustices that exist? Who can I be an advocate for to help them overcome their oppressor? God wants us to participate in a vision that leads to world peace.

Finally, God also responded to Habakkuk by saying, “The proud have a wrong spirit, but the righteous live by faith.” The book of Habakkuk ends with these words; “God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread upon the heights.” When violent things happen are we still able to say, “God is my strength?” Can we continue to be people who are faithful in spite of all the chaos in the world?

The following story is one of Rabbi Kushner’s favorites. His son, Aaron, played the violin. Because of his disease he was very small in stature. Therefore, the violin he played was like a toy. Its sound was tinny and not very easy to listen to. One day the bridge on the violin broke and the Kushner’s looked all over Manhattan to find a replacement. They finally found the part they needed in a music store. While they were there the store owner’s daughter came out to hear little Aaron play his newly repaired violin. She was amazed how this little, handicapped person could play so capably. She was a gifted violinist from Germany who was somewhat of a prodigy. Several weeks later, the Kushner’s received a package in the mail. The store owner’s daughter had sent them a gift, an rare violin, small enough for their son, Aaron to play.
Imagine what a different world it would be if more people would be generous with their lives. Thousands of acts of kindness happen every day which go unreported. We hear about the violence in the world but rarely do we hear about people of faith who try to make a difference. When people act in faith they believe in the vision of a perfect world. They believe in a God who is love. Instead of asking why, they ask what.