When Justice Feels Far
april 3rd, 2023 • by Taylor Turkington
“How is this just?”
I’ve asked this question many times. It’s like the tetherball that just keeps coming around. Recently, I asked it when reading the news. Maybe you have too. We hear about unjust decisions made by powerful people. Imprisonment. War. Women unable to receive protection due to them and their children.
Other times I ask the question not because of a distant account read online, but because of deeply felt mistreatment in the lives of those I love. Unhealthy leaders make hurtful decisions, protecting some while others get thrown under the bus. Children are bullied or taken advantage of. Racism shows its face as my friends are questioned or ignored because of their ethnicity.
I bet you’ve breathed long enough to see injustice too. Our chests tighten as the question of justice sticks in our minds like a bee stinger hard to remove.
So, we who follow a just God turn to him and ask “How is this just?” We know he rules. We know he is good and righteous. We see the discrepancy between God’s character and this world, and we want to know if he is doing anything.
We’re not alone in these questions. They are the questions God’s people have been asking for millennia. We stand in their legacy as we ask, and we can read what the Lord spoke to them in the Scriptures to know what he would say to us as well.
“We see the discrepancy between God’s character and this world, and we want to know if he is doing anything.”
A Woe Song for Justice
When we read the prophets of the Old Testament, we can be tempted to skip the sections on judgment. “Don’t do evil—got it,” we think before we skim to get to something more hopeful. But there are good reasons to slow in the oracles of judgment. Sometimes they convict us. But many times, they also offer comfort.
This is true in the woe song that sits in the middle of the book of Habakkuk. This R-rated song may sound like the story of catastrophe, but it’s truly stanza after stanza of bolstering. It’s as if the words would buttress the people to stand in the calamity the world was about to throw at them. The song speaks to God’s people who are asking “God, how is this justice?” It tells them with repetition, “Justice will come.”
The prophet Habakkuk had just lamented the violence and abuse he saw in Judah. Then he protested the evils of the Babylonians who God was going to use to discipline his people. His emotional conversation with the Lord ended with a vision of faith—faith is the way to live, Habakkuk (Hab. 2:4). To live by faith the Lord gave his people this woe song for comfort and strength. It’s as if the Lord was raising his hand at the question of who will bring justice; “I will bring reversals. I will bring justice.”
The reversals came with each woe. “Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own…” (Hab. 2:6b), he will lose what he has (Hab. 2:7). “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm!” (Hab 2:9). The next verse says that self-protection at the cost of others will lead to shame and loss. It goes on like a pounding drum beat. Woe to him who builds his empire by harming others; he will ultimately weary himself for nothing (Hab. 2:12). Woe to him who manipulates and takes advantage of others for their own pleasure or glory. Shame will come as they have shamed others. It will come from the cup in Lord’s hand to them (Hab. 2:15-16).
My people, I will flip what you’ve experienced on its head. Those who harm, mistreat, oppress, and abuse will stand accountable. This wasn’t the Lord calling his people to retaliation, but rather giving them an easily memorized song to sing as they walked the roads leading to hardship and watched injustice perpetrated. Their loss wasn’t unseen. The Lord would bring justice one day. God’s justice is one of the ways we are supported in the midst of hardship.
“In our lives, we will sit lamenting the brokenness of this world like Habakkuk—and rightly so. Still, we can also repeat to ourselves that a just God is working.”
A Woe Song for Comfort?
Now, this wouldn’t happen in Habakkuk’s lifetime. He and his neighbors were going into exile. They knew that. But the song offers comfort that even if we don’t see the just recompense upon those who gain from our loss, that doesn’t mean it’s the end.
You and I innately desire justice. My four-year-old daughter understands this. As she watches her very mild cartoon show, she’s quick to yell at a character who is selfish towards others and needs to be stopped. “You should go to jail!” echoes through the house.
Still, our adult minds may (understandably) question, “Can we read a judgment oracle and be comforted as Christians? Is that ok? Do we want people to be judged?” I believe this question is more common for those of us who have experienced less oppression than others. And yet, being comforted by God’s ultimate accountability of evil is exactly what God would have us do with this passage.
In our lives, we will sit lamenting the brokenness of this world like Habakkuk (Hab. 1:3)—and rightly so. Still, we can also repeat to ourselves that a just God is working. He may bring consequences in our lifetime (there are plenty of prophets who speak of the evil that naturally returns on oppressors), or God may do it out of our sight. But one day all will stand before a just God, and the consequences of our sin, our mistreatment of others, and our misuse of power will either fall on Christ or will fall on us. We too are people who have taken advantage of others; we are not purely innocent. We will stand before God without the woes coming upon us only by the grace of God.
A Woe Song for our Worship
The final woe in Habakkuk mocks the worship of an idol crafted by human hands. It won’t speak. It has no teaching. It has no breath to give life (Hab. 2:18-19). Alternatively, our God does speak. He breathed into the first people to give life, and he breathes life into us through his Word.
The last line of the song brings us to the inevitable end. The Lord sits enthroned in his holy temple, and we stand silent before him in awe and worship (Hab. 2:20). In the face of the chaos of this world, we follow a powerful God who brings deserved justice and undeserved salvation.
Be encouraged, friend. We walk through this world, at times begging questions of justice with broken hearts. Still, we look up at the Lord who sits on his throne. He hears our questions, sees what we see, and he is just.
Taylor Turkington directs the training ministry BibleEquipping where she also teaches and coaches Bible teachers. She studied exegetical theology (MABTS) and Old Testament exposition (D.Min) at Western Seminary and is the author of Trembling Faith: How a Distressed Prophet Helps Us Trust God in a Chaotic World. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her family where she enjoys growing tall flowers, drinking great tea, and paddling the rivers. You can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.
MORE FROM JOURNEYWOMEN
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen articles are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select writers each week, articles shared on the Journeywomen website do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the authors or any other resources mentioned.
