The prophet Habakkuk laments that he lives in a culture of violence (Habakkuk 1:2-4) and that God doesn’t seem to notice or care. (BTW, God does notice and care, but God’s silence is frustrating.) What I find most insightful is Habakkuk’s connection of the pervasiveness of violence with the absence of justice. When violence is allowed to flourish, it is empowered; and when it is empowered, it intimidates and controls all of life. The result: Justice is perverted, justice is paralyzed.
I have been frustrated that the loudest people in this country (even Christian loud mouths) are against any form of regulation of gun manufacturing, distribution or posession. I have been frustrated that the government cannot pass any sort of regulation of industries that destroy whole communities (banking, oil, natural gas, etc). I have been frustrated that our nation’s MO is violence and intimidation when we feel threatened (policies of “homeland security”, pre-emptive strikes, CIA assassination plots). How long, O Lord? How long?
There is a time for lamenting the way life is. My lament today: Violence sucks.
Tongue on Fire 