Monday, June 24, 2013

The righteous shall live by faith...

 And the LORD answered me:
 “Write the vision;
  make it plain on tablets,
  so he may run who reads it.
 For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
  it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
 If it seems slow, wait for it;
  it will surely come; it will not delay.
 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
  but the righteous shall live by his faith.
 “Moreover, wine is a traitor,
  an arrogant man who is never at rest.
 His greed is as wide as Sheol;
  like death he has never enough.
 He gathers for himself all nations
  and collects as his own all peoples.”

(Habakkuk 2:2-5 ESV)
Sandwiched in between everything that was going on around this prophet was this truth that sticks out in bold print: "The Righteous shall live by his faith."  Troubled about the rampant sin in his society, he had cried out to God to do something.  God answered, but not in the way Habakkuk liked: God was going to use a more pagan society to chastise Israel. (Sometimes we feel that way, don't we?)  Now the prophet is even more troubled: How could God do that? This is God's answer: despite all of the wickedness, greed, pride, deceit and injustice going on around us, we are to live by faith.  Do we really believe that God is great and God is good, and the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him? Let us live by faith and trust in Him, no matter what.

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