Habakkuk 1:13 (ESV) You [GOD] 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?
A friend of mine asked me the other day: “If God cannot look upon evil, how can Satan stand in His presence” (Job 1:6)?
This got me thinking and bugged me enough to look into it. The primary verse used to say God cannot even look upon evil is Habakkuk 1:13 (see above).
The interesting thing about this passage, is a few verses earlier, Habakkuk seems to reverse himself and says God is actually looking at wrong. So, the claim of the prophet is not that God cannot look at evil. It must mean something else:
Habakkuk 1:3 (ESV) Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
Looking at the big picture, Habakkuk’s prophecy is that God will use Assyria to punish Israel. This prophecy was given around 640-615 b.c. and was fulfilled in 586 b.c. Habakkuk is saying “How can an infinitely holy God stand by and allow this evil done to His people?”
The phrase “look at wrong” in both verses 3 and 13 of the first chapter of Habakkuk mean to look and tolerate wrong. God can look at evil and have evil in His presence. He just will not tolerate it forever.
In his Systematic Theology, Dr. Norman Geisler says,” God is so holy that He cannot look upon sin with approval (Hab. 1:13). Thus, He cannot overlook sin forever – it must eventually be punished.” (p. 601)
So, Geisler says the meaning of God’s “looking at wrong” is fuller than it seems. It means looking with acceptance or tolerance.
Psalm 5:4-5 (ESV) also says God cannot dwell with evil: For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
This is another passage that addresses God’s non-acceptance of evil. The Hebrew word here for dwell is gur and means to sojourn with or to greet with hospitality. Again, it does not prohibit the existence of evil or sin near God but that it will be dealt with and not accepted or tolerated.
Why is this important?
To understand Scripture is an adventure we all enter into. When we see what seems like a contradiction in God’s Word, we must dig deeper to settle it in our minds and settle it well enough to explain it to others. When we are asked how Satan can stand in the presence of God when Habakkuk says God cannot so much as look upon evil, we have an apparent contradiction to resolve:
Job 1:6 (ESV) Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
This verse and the passage in 2 Chronicles 18:18-22, where there is an evil spirit among the host of heaven who speaks to God and is used by Him to bring about the fall of Ahab, show us God will allow sin and evil in His midst but not accept it or tolerate it for long.
Lately, I’ve felt like God’s favored child, that God is paying special attention to me and blessing me greatly, but this is a common feeling among Christians. We base this on the direct command in 1 John 1:9 (ESV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We Christians have stood before God while deep in our sins and asked forgiveness. Praise Him He forgave us and has forgiven the plethora of sins we have confessed since that day.
That first day when we stood before God, we stood before Him as sinners, as sinful, yet due to His grace, we were allowed to stand before an absolutely holy God and plead the blood of Jesus as our payment for those sins. If God did not allow sin in His presence, how could we be forgiven?
Believers Armed and Dangerous 