Not THEM, Lord; Anyone but Them...

12 Are you not from everlasting,
    O Lord my God, my Holy One?
    We shall not die.
O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment,
    and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
13 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?
14 You make mankind like the fish of the sea,
    like crawling things that have no ruler.
15 He brings all of them up with a hook;
    he drags them out with his net;
he gathers them in his dragnet;
    so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and makes offerings to his dragnet;
for by them he lives in luxury,
    and his food is rich.
17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net    and mercilessly killing nations forever?
(Habakkuk 1:12-17)
The Babylonians had quite a reputation - even though it would be another hundred years before they were at their greatest, their worst. They were known for mercilessly devouring up land, and every living thing in it to build their own empire.  Habakkuk had asked God to discipline His erring people for their sin; He was ready to answer, through the Babylonians. Not them! Anyone but them! Habakkuk accuses God of inconsistency with His own nature: Holy. How could a Holy God use such unholy people as His instruments. Interestingly He still does today. They get our attention, don't they. We see the injustice, the wickedness, the arrogance. We like to compare: we are better than they. God has done it again: He has reminded us that He is Holy, and we are not. Sure, we may think we are "holier than they", but that is not the point. We need to start with us, not them, and allow God to deal with them, after He deals with us. We need to stop comparing and complaining, and stand before Holy God ourselves.