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How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. (Hab. 1:2-4)

Over the last five years, I have preached often from Habakkuk. I stress the fallenness of our world and the need to be realistic about human wickedness. But Habakkuk also stresses that history demands a judgment. If God is just, there must be a judgment one day — maybe not in this life but certainly in the life to come. God's answer to our struggles with evil and evil men and women in this world is, "The righteous will live by faith — our loyalty to God in spite of the godlessness of others." We're getting lots of practice.

Daily life in Zimbabwe is the painful reality of starvation, AIDS, and violence. Most families are fortunate if they can have one solid meal a day. There is no food on the shelves, there are no medicines in hospitals, and no one can afford to buy from the drugstores.

The last few months have therefore been a total nightmare for my family (me, my wife, our children, our parents, and my HIV-positive sibling’s family), especially as the shortage of basic and essential commodities has reached critical levels. When you can find such staples as sugar, maize meal, cooking oil, flour, rice, and salt, the price is ridiculously unaffordable. When we get financial assistance, we cross over the border to buy supplies and withdraw cash.

Zimbabwe has become a nation of beggars who spend more time looking for food than working. Most employees' monthly stipends would not be enough to meet their transportation budget to get to and from work. The majority of people who still work walk long distances because public transportation is too expensive.

State schools have lost almost all qualified teachers. Most factories that had already scaled down operations at the beginning of the year have not opened since the March elections. Those that have opened, often under threat from the ruling party supporters, have kept a skeleton staff.

Since the spring election, we have noticed a dramatic increase in the number of elderly destitutes and children living on the street. Retirees are the most affected because over the last 10 years they have lost all their savings and pension benefits.

According to the United Nations food survey conducted in April and May by the World Food Program, an estimated 2 million people in Zimbabwe need food assistance. This number is expected to rise to 3.1 million by October and will shoot up to 5.1 million between January and March 2009. But the government has banned NGOs from distributing critical food and medical aid.

The few who seem able to survive this food crisis are mostly receiving financial assistance from the Zimbabwean diaspora. To date, there are more than 2 million Zimbabweans in South Africa, most of them illegal immigrants. People do not know where to turn. In the last few weeks, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of Zimbabweans illegally crossing borders into neighboring countries in search of employment and food. If by the end of the year the situation does not change, we might see the final exodus of the remaining skilled and professional labor force in the country.

But a lack of food isn't the only danger: More and more people are getting killed and beaten up in both rural and urban areas. The culprits are members of the ruling ZANU-PF party; the victims are mostly supporters of the Tsvangirai-led Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The general population has become hopelessly fearful. This terror campaign by ZANU-PF is already estimated to have claimed 500 lives. David Coltart, the opposition senator and a human-rights lawyer, has described this as a deliberate and systematic attempt to wipe out an entire political group in order to permanently cripple the MDC. This has prompted the international monitors Genocide Watch to give Zimbabwe a "Stage 6" listing — the final stage before political mass murder.

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July (Web-Only) 2008, Vol. 52