All through the Bible, and especially in the Old Testament, is a repeated thought: “Who will help me? Who will defend me?” Habakkuk watches as men and women seek justice, and can’t find it:

Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has become paralyzed and useless, and there is no justice given in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, and justice is perverted with bribes and trickery.

Habakkuk 1:3-4Habakkuk 1:3-4
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
3 Why do you make me watch such terrible injustice? Why do you allow violence, lawlessness, crime, and cruelty to spread everywhere? ⁴ Laws cannot be enforced; justice is always the loser; criminals crowd out honest people and twist the laws around.

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We talk a lot about mercy as Christians. And well we should. But often, we miss the cry for simple justice. We often think of justice as something negative. As something that is opposed to mercy and love. But this is not how the people of the Bible saw justice. They cried for justice as every person who has ever been unfairly treated does. They weren’t looking for forgiveness. They didn’t want someone to show them pity.  What they wanted was their day in court. But the courts of man were paralyzed and useless. Just like we often make fun of lawyers as lying, cheating crooks, Habakkuk recognizes that there is little hope for justice with wickedness ruling the day.

This theme is also repeated in the Psalms: Who will hear my case? “If only my case were heard, I would find justice, a right verdict!” But the likelihood of getting ones’ case heard is the problem. To get your case heard might require a bribe, a little “grease” for the wheels. If you were a widow, an orphan, a debt slave, you probably didn’t have a chance to get your case heard. There was no spare cash to get your case moved up in priority.

The hope of those left in the lurch is God. He will hear their case and provide justice:

Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.

Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.

If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset, because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

Exodus 22:21-27Exodus 22:21-27
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
21 ; ; . Do not mistreat or abuse foreigners who live among you. Remember, you were foreigners in Egypt. ²² Do not mistreat widows or orphans. ²³ If you do, they will beg for my help, and I will come to their rescue. ²⁴ In fact, I will get so angry that I will kill your men and make widows of their wives and orphans of their children. ²⁵ Don't charge interest when you lend money to any of my people who are in need. ²⁶ . Before sunset you must return any coat taken as security for a loan, ²⁷ because that is the only cover the poor have when they sleep at night. I am a merciful God, and when they call out to me, I will come to help them.

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We need to carefully look at ourselves and ask the hard questions: Are we the ones perverting justice? Oppressing those who have no power to care for their own needs is a dangerous place. And if we are not the ones perverting justice, are we providing it? Are we standing up for those who day and night pray for God to hear their case? Or are we silent, watching, but unwilling to act?

We have the good news of restoration, of a right relationship with God. But this is the same good news that proclaims Jesus as king, a righteous judge who will hear the case of the widow and orphan, and of everyone who is oppressed and cast down. We need to do more than just hand out tracts or live upstanding lives, we need to plead the case of those who cannot speak for themselves, those who cry out for God to hear and respond