HOW LONG, LORD?
How long, Lord, am I to cry for help
While you will not listen;
To cry, ‘Oppression!’ in your ear
And you will not save?
Habakkuk 1:2
A visitor to Zimbabwe,
coming from the airport, will notice solar-powered street lamps lining the new
dual carriageway and they will be impressed.
But they will also notice that some of them have been felled like trees
and lie forlorn at the side of the road, their solar panels removed. The image
conjures up rhinos abandoned in the bush with their horns sawn off.
The visitor will pause to
sympathise with those who laboured to beautify the road of welcome to the
country, even as they labour to understand why people would want to sabotage
the assets of the country for immediate gain. I puzzled over his question some
years ago when I was directly involved in dealing with trying to guard the
transformers in our area which were being drained of their special oil.
Our visitor may come from
a country where the infrastructure works well and there is less temptation to
raid public property for private profit. But the one who steals the solar panels may
reason; ‘some are benefiting from the assets of the country by stealing left,
right and centre and why shouldn’t I?’
I have heard two other
reports recently of ‘helping oneself’ without regard for the common good,
though I cannot verify them. One was about people diverting money meant for the
cyclone victims to their own pockets and the other about those who block
medicines coming from India and other countries that are much more affordable
than those carrying the international brand labels. The medication is exactly
the same but it is produced under licence – a generous gesture? - in developing
countries.
‘It is of the nature of
sin that its effects are never confined within the individual, but reach into
the tissues of human society.’[1]
Once we allow corruption to enter our country it will take root and prosper
from the highest to the lowest. ‘Why should I not do it? Everyone else does’.
‘How long, O Lord, …?’ Habakkuk
expresses the frustration of waiting for some relief from this pervasive
influence which affects our social, economic and political life. Well, the
answer must be: as long as it takes for us to wake up and, not only cry to the
Lord for help, but do something about it ourselves. Jesus cannot impose integrity on us. We have to want it and act. Then the Lord
will bless us and crown our efforts.
6 October 2019 Sunday 27 C
Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:2-4 2 Timothy 1:6 … 14 Luke
17:5-10
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