The Righteous Shall Live By Faith.

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you violence and you will not save? Habakkuk 1:1

I feel like I have a lot in common with Habakkuk at this point in my life. I find myself complaining continually about the state of the world, my life, and great injustices that I feel are taking place.  I keep wondering when God is going to step in and change my circumstances.  Just like the complaint of Habakkuk mine has not fallen on def ears.  He has answered “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.” Habakkuk 1:5

What happens when you take that first look, and you see nothing worth taking another glance at? You’re circumstances to you seem unbearable, there’s war, poverty, death, and hedonism everywhere and there’s no clear path of escape.  How then do you look among the nations (your life), and see; wonder, be astounded?  Easier said than done, right?  It’s here that God reminds us what it’s all about.  “the righteous shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4.  I have to be able to look at my life and believe that God is in control, that even when I don’t see good, he is good, and because he is good he is doing something good; something more wonderful than I could have ever imagined.

I must confess I have been guilty of chronic doubt.  I’ve doubted my purpose, who God is, my gifts, talents, relationships, and vision.  Many times I even doubted God’s sovereignty.  I’ve spent the past few months living my life in “the what ifs” of doubt.  It probably sounds silly to most, but once I committed my life to Christ, and said Lord here I am, I trust you.  I didn’t realize (until now) that I would have to keep doing this continually and intentionally....uh, duh.   See living by faith is continually trusting the Lord with those things both seen and unseen.  This is the very definition of hope, which stems from faith; faith allows us to trust, and trust is a must.  In the past I’ve based my trust only on things that I’ve seen, which isn’t necessarily bad, because in many ways I’ve learned how to trust Him because of who I’ve experienced him to be in my life.  But he is calling me to a deeper level of trust.  He’s calling me to look past my present reality, not ignore it, but look past it, into the hope that is Christ.  That is to be my reality.  In Joshua 23:14 we learn that not one of his good promises goes unfulfilled. And then in Ephesians 3:20 we are told that He can do exceedingly above all that we can ask or think. These two verses are just some of the many proofs that confirm He is doing a work that far exceeds our greatest expectations of Him.  So when He ask us to trust him continually with our whole heart, believing that he is sovereign and good, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t.  Deliverance will come, poverty will cease, injustices will be made right, and our path will be made straight.  It is not our job to make sure these things happen, but by trusting the Lord we are able to partake as vessels in what He is already doing.

By the end of Habakkuk’s book he realizes that God is indeed in control and has been the whole time.  The problem was that Habakkuk had forgotten that the righteous were to live by faith, he needed to be reminded to trust in the Lord no matter what, because He is good and sovereign in any and every circumstance, worthy of all the praise and glory. “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.”  Habakkuk 3:17-19

So when all is said and done It can not be refuted that He is God, He alone is good, and it is in Him that we must put our complete trust; hour by hour, minute by minute no matter the surrounding circumstances.