Have you ever lost faith in something or someone?
Have you ever experienced something that perhaps calls into question your trust in someone.
Faith and trust pretty much go hand in hand.
When trust is broken, faith is often given up.
In this article we are going to see how God calls us to live by faith, how Habakkuk is directed in this direction.
But let’s very quickly recap on last weeks article because it has a bearing on this article.
We looked at the first 11 verses of Habakkuk 1, we spoke a lot about waiting for God to answer, to respond. We finished with God telling Habakkuk that He was going to act, He was going to respond to Habakkuk’s cries but as we saw it wasn’t going to be in the way that Habakkuk perhaps expected, God was going to use an enemy nation to sweep through and capture Israel.
The end of Habakkuk 1 which we didn’t cover last week’s ends with the prophet asking a number of questions to God, but his primary angst was that this evil nation was going to be used by God.
Habakkuk 2 starts with the following:
Habakkuk 2:1
I will stand at my watch
and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
and what answer I am to give to this complaint.
Habakkuk seems to understand that God will answer his questions and he positions himself to receive this answer.
Are you giving God time to respond? Or are just rushing too much?
The rest of Habakkuk 2 is a record of God’s response to Habakkuk:
Verse 4 is a key verse for us today:
Habakkuk 2:4
4 “See, the enemy is puffed up;
his desires are not upright—
but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness —
A righteous person in this context is in right standing before God, how is acceptable before God. A righteous person before God is someone who will receive eternal life.
How do we become righteous before God, this is done by faith, faith in Jesus.
When we put our faith in Jesus, that He died for our sins to pay the price we are putting our trust in Him.
Faith is how we are saved, Habakkuk 4:2 is quoted three times in the New Testament:
Romans 1:17
Galatians 3:11
Hebrews 10:38
When we trust God with live by faith.
As God said in verse 4
but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness
The truth is though that the concept the thought of faith can be a stumbling block to so many people.
How is a stumbling block?
People want to see things, hold things, faith in something unseen in the instance of God seems hard for people. Yet:
People visit mediums/psychics.
Read horoscopes,
Visit tarot card readers.
Believe in healing crystals.
But I would say there is more proof of God.
Look around this room, people’s lives show how God is real.
As I said earlier faith and trust are closely related:
We can trust God because He is trustworthy.
Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
Psalm 56:3
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
People also struggle with trusting because of how their trust has been broken by people and organisations in the here and now.
Companies
Politicians
Partners
Family
We shouldn’t believe that God is like those who have broken our trust.
Faith and Trust when things aren’t going the way you would hope are a mark of a Christian.
It is easier to say I am a Christian when things are going well. Faith, I believe is given an opportunity to flourish in the fire.
Look at the stories of Daniel and Joseph found in the Old Testament.
Application:
- Are you positioning yourself to hear what God is going to say? (Habakkuk 2:1)
- What areas of life do you need to live more by faith?
