Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 190 · July 9
Purer Eyes
“Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?”
Many people use the first half of this verse to say that God is too pure to look at evil. But if you have watched someone get away with something terrible, that can sound like an excuse. It sounds as if God looked the other way on purpose, for holy reasons.
Habakkuk uses those same words in a very different way. He uses them to build a complaint against God, and it is all one verse: "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?"
He agrees with the first part so that the second part will land. In plain words, he is saying to God: You cannot stand evil, so why are You watching it happen and saying nothing?
Scripture records this kind of complaint more than once and never throws it out. David states the teaching plainly: "For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee." Jeremiah asks Habakkuk's question too, down to the same Hebrew word for dealing treacherously: "Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?" Jeremiah and Habakkuk share one complaint, and neither is condemned for raising it.
So this verse is no excuse for a God who looks away. It is a prophet holding God's own holiness up before Him and asking for an answer, and it is kept in the Bible under his own name. Habakkuk did not know when the answer would come, so he climbed up to wait for it: "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me." The next verse begins, "And the LORD answered me." That tower is an invitation to you as well. Bring your complaint to God in honest words, with your name on it. Then stay where you can hear His answer, because He still answers those who wait for Him.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 190 is The Same Forever (Hebrews 13:8).