Monday, October 15, 2007
Habakkuk 2:4 Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.
THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH (Habakkuk)
Habakkuk the Prophet was conflicted by two awful realities.
1) The Israel to whom he was sent was rife with violence and lawlessness. But when he cried out to God for action, the result was . . .
2) The LORD said He would use an invasion by the cruel and ruthless Chaldeans to punish His wayward people. How could the righteous God do such a thing? The prophet demanded to know.
God's answer to His spokesman was the Scripture above. This Word of the LORD did not reveal the mind of the Maker or show Habakkuk how the advance of history and the unfolding of divine justice would mesh with His longstanding and gracious promises to Israel.
Instead, the LORD showed the prophet that his refuge amid conflict and complexity lay in placing himself in God's hands, completely and unquestioningly. The proud seek their own answers but faith takes God at His Word and lives in communion with Him -- on the basis of that Word.
God would keep His promises to Israel despite their unrighteousness -- and without compromising His own. The God of righteousness would not go back on His Word. Life here and now (no matter what threatens) and life with God forever (no matter how this one ends) is to be lived through faith, through trusting in God's just actions on behalf of the unjust.
For is it not true that in all His handling of history and in all His directing of men and nations, the LORD was working out the salvation He promised our sinful race when sin first brought sorrow and death into our world? No matter how things appear on the surface, this fact stands firm and solid for all time and beyond: THE LORD IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
