In his book "Night," Elie Wiesel tells of one night when several prisoners decided to put God on trial. They wanted to try God for the horrors of the Holocaust. These were men of faith, but it seemed to them their faith had failed them. They asked young Wiesel to witness the proceedings.
The "prosecuting attorney" brought charges. God's people had been torn from their homes, separated from their families, beaten, abused, and burned alive in the incinerators. The defense attorney made his case. But in the end, they found God guilty of failing and abandoning his people, maybe even guilty of not existing.
The trial was over. The mood in the room was sombre, dark, depressing. The men prepared for bed. A few minutes later, however, when the time came for the Jewish evening prayer, these same men who had just found God guilty of abandoning them got on their knees and prayed their evening prayer.
This scene brought Habakkuk once again to mind: "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength" (3:17-19).
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