Daily Devotion: God’s Justice for the Unborn will not Delay

Habakkuk 2:3, “For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”

This was God’s answer to Habakkuk’s second complaint, “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do You idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he” (1:13)? In other words, Habakkuk complained, “Why do You do nothing against those who are evil and why do You not respond to injustice?” Which of us have not complained to God in such a way? I would argue that every person—believer and unbeliever alike—have complained to God, “Why do You do nothing against evil and why do You not respond to injustice?”

God’s response to Habakkuk’s complaint—and others just like his—can be summed up like this, “Shut up and wait.” God knows of the evils and injustices of this world; He will respond to these iniquities in His own timing. Here, then, is one of God’s reminders: God is God; you are not.

I myself have been sending a similar complaint up to God in the face of the evils of abortion. In my prayers, I cry out, “Where are you, O God? When will you avenge these defenceless ones? Why are You silent against such immeasurable evil?” His answer, I believe, is in this message to Habakkuk: “Shut up and wait. I am God; you are not. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.” That is, God’s justice, though it might seem slow, will surely come; it will not delay.

Patience. I am no good at it. No human is. We cannot make God answers our calls. Luther: “God’s nature is always like Himself and will never change on our account” (Lectures on Genesis, LW 8:19). God has not yet answered the injustice against the unborn, but neither has He changed. We believe in the same God who spoke to Habakkuk, the same God who told him to wait. Indeed, God’s justice came, probably not even within Habakkuk’s lifetime. God’s justice for the unborn may not come in my lifetime, but it will come, because God is a God of justice, and He defends those who cannot defend themselves.