{"id":1575,"date":"2016-07-08T10:24:11","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T15:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/?p=1575"},"modified":"2016-07-08T10:24:11","modified_gmt":"2016-07-08T15:24:11","slug":"cry-out-for-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/2016\/07\/08\/cry-out-for-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Cry Out for Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Alton Sterling. And Brent Thompson. Philando Castile. And four as yet unnamed Dallas police officers.<\/p>\n<p>We could go on: Thousands trafficked for sexual exploitation. About 2700 unborn babies killed yesterday in the US. In the absence of any effective government, warlords rape and pillage, leading millions to flee their homes in Syria, in Libya, in Congo. Meanwhile, even in this country, the powerful and well-connected get off scot free while the weak are punished to the full extent of the law.<\/p>\n<p>We cry out with the prophet:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">How long, LORD, must I cry for help? But you do not listen! I call out to you, &#8220;Violence!&#8221; But you do not intervene!\u00a0 Why do you force me to witness injustice? Why do you put up with wrongdoing? Destruction and violence confront me; conflict is present and one must endure strife.\u00a0 For this reason the law lacks power, and justice is never carried out. Indeed, the wicked intimidate the innocent. For this reason justice is perverted. (Habakkuk 1:2-4 NET)<\/p>\n<p>Or, as a contemporary songwriter puts it:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fcSNF9gRVCg\">\u201cI believe you will come, Your justice be done \u2013 but how long? . . . How long? How long until this burden is lifted?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>We are right to cry out. We are right to weep. We are right to long for justice, indeed to work for justice.<\/p>\n<p>But Scripture both challenges us and enables us to look at the horrors of this world from God\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As we ask, \u201cHow long must we look at evil?\u201d God asks, \u201cHow long will this people despise me?\u201d (Numbers 14:11)<\/li>\n<li>As we cry out, \u201cJustice is perverted!\u201d God asks, \u201cHow long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?\u201d (Proverbs 1:22)<\/li>\n<li>As we long for God to act, He asks, \u201cHow long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?\u201d (Exodus 10:3)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>God challenges us to look within \u2013 to look at our own hearts, and to examine the hearts of our fellow countrymen. And when we look within, what do we see? Individually and as a nation: We have despised Him. We have mocked Him. We have rejected His revelation. We have arrogantly refused to humble ourselves before Him.<\/p>\n<p>Scripture tells us that all the evil we see around us is the result of this human rebellion against God \u2013 a rebellion which we must admit, when we\u2019re honest, is deeply ingrained within us. Indeed, all such evil is the logical consequence of that rebellion.<\/p>\n<p>We can and should take palliative measures as a society that will lessen some of the suffering: Checks and balances in government; proper training for the police; equitable and efficient prosecution of criminals \u2013 both of the weak and the powerful; wise voting; holding up examples of honorable men and women. Furthermore, as individuals and as churches we can and must love and care for and assist the broken and hurting around us.<\/p>\n<p>But suffering will continue. Injustice will endure. Violence will rear its head. The poor we will always have with us. Sin will thrive.<\/p>\n<p><i>Until the Right Government takes over.<\/i> That is, until the government is on Immanuel\u2019s shoulders. Until God\u2019s Kingdom comes, God\u2019s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Then His government and His peace will increase forever (Isaiah 9:6-7, Matthew 6:10).<\/p>\n<p>After Habakkuk\u2019s cry, God tells His prophet:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. . . . The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.<b> <\/b>. . .<b> <\/b>The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him. (Habakkuk 2:3, 12, 20)<\/p>\n<p>And the Apostle Paul assures us:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">At the name of Jesus every knee will bow\u2013 in heaven and on earth and under the earth \u2013 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.<b> <\/b>(Philippians 2:10-11 NET)<\/p>\n<p>So cry out. Weep with those who weep. Help the hurting. Work for justice.<\/p>\n<p>And know: The Lord is indeed in His temple. He offers reconciliation to all rebels through the wiling sacrifice of His Son. He will bring about His Kingdom at exactly the right time. He is King.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alton Sterling. And Brent Thompson. Philando Castile. And four as yet unnamed Dallas police officers. We could go on: Thousands trafficked for sexual exploitation. About 2700 unborn babies killed yesterday&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,14,15],"tags":[131,139,243,369,485,688,749,780,881,1158,1178,1519,1564],"class_list":["post-1575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-commentary","category-devotions","tag-alton-sterling","tag-andrew-peterson","tag-brent-thompson","tag-dallas","tag-every-knee-will-bow","tag-habakkuk","tag-how-long","tag-immanuel","tag-kingdom-come","tag-philando-castile","tag-police","tag-suffering","tag-the-reckoning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}