When the ends justify the means

"Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?" Habakkuk 1.13

Here is the prophet Habakkuk's dilemma: How can God allow one nation to overwhelm another that is morally superior, simply because they can exert greater brute strength? This is the very question millions ask today, in regard to the way super-powers continue to throw their weight around at the expense of smaller, less aggressive neighbours?

God's answer is to explain that tyrants can be useful in bringing judgment where it is deserved, even on those less guilty than themselves. However they too will have their come-uppance. Indeed the seeds of their own destruction are sown in their behaviour, which only perpetuates the spiral of violence which eventually returns on those who initiate it. As the penny drops Habakkuk 's outrage turns to wonder and intercession:

"LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy." (3.2)