The streets are filled with angry people across the nation. Some are breaking into local stores and taking what they please; others are peacefully expressing their disdain for the actions of the Minneapolis police regarding the death of George Floyd. I have seen the video of some of George’s final moments. Several police officers pressing a man into the pavement is not an easy thing to watch. The scene becomes even more stomach-turning as you hear George crying out, desperate for mercy, “I can’t breathe!” My heart aches for those suffering injustices, great or small, and I want to see a better version of justice being carried out in our nation.
My mind turns to the Scriptures at times like this. Habakkuk 1:2-4 records Habakkuk’s outcry to God concerning the injustices in his nation:
"How long, O Lord, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, “Violence!” Yet You do not save. Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises. Therefore the law is ignored And justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes out perverted."
Habakkuk cried out for the Lord to uphold justice. He wanted the righteous saved and the wicked punished, and he wondered how long it would take God to respond.
The injustices of our world are constantly before our eyes, and at times it feels like nothing is being done about them. Even in these times, find peace in trusting the Lord. Remember God’s response to Habakkuk in Habakkuk 1:5:
“Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days— You would not believe if you were told.
Do not be fooled into thinking God does not hear the outcry for justice. He hears, and as He was working in the time of Habakkuk, He is working today. If God revealed even a small portion of His plans which are in motion today, we would be left shaking our heads in utter amazement of His wisdom, compassion, and justice.
Rather than becoming violent or abusive toward your fellow man, respond to these troubling circumstances by praying to Almighty God. Find peace in knowing He cares for you, and then extend that same care to your fellow man. Replace anger with mercy, and you will become part of the solution to the problems you see.