“Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
But I, with a song of thanksgiving,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
Salvation comes from the LORD .”
Jonah 2:8-9 (NIV)

The geography and climate of Israel was so rugged that even the most fertile land could fail. Rain and heat would vary greatly from season to season, and as a result there was never an assurance that there would be enough crops to sustain a family. As a result, the gods who a people chose to worship were not merely a matter of preference, worship style or carpet color but rather a matter of survival. The idols that Israel’s neighbors (and often Israel herself) worshiped were worshiped out of a need to assure survival. In this passage, Jonah finds himself in the belly of a fish after defying God, a situation in which he is as helpless to save himself as a farmer subject to a hot, rainless growing season.

Today, we don’t have the same perspective as a desperate farmer or Jonah in the belly of the fish. Instead we know that there will always be the basic necessities of life available. We never worry that food or water will not be available, instead we concentrate on saving for retirement, or paying off the car. But the reality is that all of us are helpless to save ourselves. We may be able to feed our physical bodies, protect ourselves from criminals, and perform surgery that will extend our lives but we are helpless to avoid death. Ultimately we are as helpless as Jonah was in the belly of a fish, we just happen to be better fed, and more comfortable. Israel’s neighbors looked to “worthless idols” for salvation and though we may have grown beyond bowing down to inanimate objects much of humanity still look for salvation in things which are completely unable to save them. For example, Marxists cling to the idea of a ‘”classless” state for salvation, Ted Williams put his faith in cryogenics and modern medicine for salvation, and existentialists like Jean Paul Sartre put their faith in themselves for salvation. And just like the pagans who came thousands of years before them they are clinging to “worthless idols” and, by so doing, have forfeited the grace that God offers.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to put our faith in things other than God for salvation. It doesn’t take an overriding philosophy such as Marxism to do so. It can be something as simple as a job. Before I decided to become a minister I worked at a small software company. I took great pride in landing this job, and began to take my identity from this job. It was by far a better job than I had expected to get out of school, and rather than seeing it as a gift from God I began to see it as my salvation. It would provide for my family both necessities and luxuries. What it would not do is what God offers to do for me for free. It would not deliver me from sin or the effects of sin, and it could not even begin to reunite me with God. At best it could offer temporary comfort.
Anytime we begin to view anything which can only provide temporary comfort as something which can provide eternal salvation we have begun to cling to worthless idols. Examine the way you treat family, money, jobs, or other things in your life. How do you view them? Do you view them as gifts from God? Or are you treating them as something more?

“Look at the nations and watch-
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told.
I am raising up the Babylonians,
that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
to seize dwelling places not their own.
They are a feared and dreaded people;
they are a law to themselves
and promote their own honor.
Habakkuk 1:5-7 (NIV)

On December 8, 1941 the United States officially declared war on Japan, Germany, and Italy and entered into World War II. Up until the day before, the US had been trying to stay out of the war, the belief was the Atlantic and Pacific oceans would protect the United States and there was no reason to enter into the war. Then Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and the patience of the United States snapped. The consequences were severe. When the smoke finally cleared, Germany and Japan were broken nations, countless were dead, and the nuclear age began with a mushroom cloud over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Scripture tells us that God is patient, but He is also holy. And His holiness must be satisfied. Eventually God, like Habakkuk, will become so outraged at the sins of His people that He will act. And like the US entering World War II He will act with devastating consequences. God was sending the Babylonians after Israel. The Babylonians were a people to be feared. They made a habit of attacking other nations to carry off the people as slaves, and to make the property of those people their own. And they were virtually unstoppable. I can imagine Habakkuk’s reaction to this. His heart pounding in his chest, unable to speak, standing there just stunned at the idea. Imagine! God’s holy people conquered by dirty pagans! “Sure”, Habakkuk must have thought, “God’s people aren’t acting very holy right now but they’re still better than the Babylonians. How could God do this?” Of course he probably thought that right after he thought, “Oh no. My family, my friends and I are all going to be dead or slaves.” Without God the Israelites didn’t stand a chance against the Babylonians and Habakkuk knew it. In fact later in the chapter Habakkuk compares the Israelites to fish being hauled up into a fisherman’s boat. The fish don’t stand a chance of defeating the fisherman and so the Israelites don’t stand a chance against the Babylonians.

This is the nature of justice. It demands a cost from the person who has violated it. Justice is something that God requires. And it cost the Israelites big. Eventually they make their way back to their homeland after being carried off as slaves. But they are never again a super power as they were under Kings David and Solomon. In fact, they never again exist as an independent nation until 1948. This is the story of humanity. All of humanity has sinned against God. And the price that is demanded by God’s holiness is even steeper than the one the Israelites paid. The price demanded by God’s holiness is to forever be apart from God. God cannot tolerate sin around Him and so all of us sinners can’t be in his presence. Unless someone else pays that price. Ultimately God offered Himself up to His own justice via the sacrifice of Jesus. Because He paid the price for our sin we don’t have to. All too often we think of sin as being something God doesn’t really like but really not a big deal, and something that doesn’t have much in the way of consequences. But the reality is that God hates sin. He despises it. And it has grave consequences. It resulted in God breaking Israel as a nation. It resulted in countless deaths when the Babylonians swept in. It resulted in numerous people becoming slaves to the Babylonians. It resulted in the death of Christ on the cross. When we truly realize the horrible results of sin then we will begin working towards removing it from our lives. Romans 12:1ff gives the process for doing this. By daily renewing our minds through prayer and scripture our lives can be transformed. The process of change does not start with an act of will, or even an action. The process of change begins with our attitudes and our mindset. If we renew our minds with prayer and scripture our attitudes and mindsets will become Godly, and those will in turn affect our wills, which will in turn affect our actions. But it all begins with the renewal of our minds, if we do that, then like a row of dominoes the rest will fall as well. But if we don’t begin by renewing our minds then its a long and hard process of pushing over each individual domino rather than setting into place a chain reaction that results in change.

How long, O LORD , must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?
Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted
Habakkuk 1.2-4 (NIV)

It doesn’t take long to encounter evil in this world. Especially when there are 24 hour news shows as well as internet news sites to bring us the latest atrocity. A quick look at the last 100 years reveals the bloodiest century in history. Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and Pol Pot all murdered millions, and deprived over half the world’s population of their freedom. The image of goose stepping Nazi soldiers is so powerful that the horror of what they represented has been communicated over more than half a century and will probably continue to be communicated through history. When evil shows itself we should be as horrified as Habakkuk.

What is similar to Habakkuk’s situation and the others mentioned is that the government which God has set up to enforce justice is not doing its divine duty. Governments were meant by God to be “an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil” (Romans 13.4 NAU). The government in Israel was not doing its job, and so Habakkuk is appealing directly to the source of morality: God. All morality is established by God and God has charged government with upholding His justice. But what happens when government is either unwilling or unable to ensure justice is done? What if the government is being run by immoral people who refuse to do the right thing? What if the government is paralyzed and unable to deal with injustice? What then? Well, when the servant fails then you appeal to the master. Or to put it in modern terms, when the cashier can’t help you ask for the manager. When the arbiter of justice can’t help, appeal to the author of morality.

God does care about what happens to people, and our outrage at injustice is a reflection of His outrage at injustice. When Jon Benet Ramsey was murdered in her home just a few seconds away from her own bed room and her own parents the entire country was captivated and horrified. How much greater would your sense of horror be if that child was your own? Well, each time an injustice is committed it is literally committed against one of His own children and in addition to that God doesn’t “hear” about a crime being committed but witnesses it. He is there knowing what is happening and it grieves Him. It is right that we should be outraged by injustice. And it is also right that we do everything possible within the bounds of the law to insure that perpetrators of evil are punished. It is our responsibility to do everything within our power to be sure that the law can work. But when the law is unable to work then it is time to appeal to the author of justice. It is time to appeal to God Himself. Prayers for justice will be heard and eventually answered. God is outraged at the martyrdom of His people. He is outraged at the needless death of all people. He is outraged when the image of Himself which he placed in all people is dishonored, disfigured and disrespected. Prayers for justice will be answered. God is patient but He will act. Praying for justice is as necessary and as appropriate as praying for the sick. The next time you see a news story about a nation in turmoil or another situation where justice is being prevented from being done take time to learn more about the situation. Learn the details of what is going on and the history behind the incident. Then take time to pray that God will intervene. Pray that God will bring His justice to the situation and that He will prevent further injustice from occurring. Pray that He will impose Himself into the situation on behalf of His children and put an end to atrocities. Commit yourself to a particular situation of injustice. Commit yourself to learn about the situation, to pray for it on a consistent basis and stay updated on what is happening with that situation.