So maybe you’ve heard it said, ‘read your bible’ so you tried and failed. Our hope as leaders is that all of us will pick up God’s word and come to understand the true nature of God. After all, the bible is God’s Word curated over centuries detailing His nature, His will, the meaning of life and humanity’s historical interactions with Him. The Bible details the hidden keys to the Kingdom. Hence, the reason we are reviewing a new book each week.
This week we move ahead to the book of Habakkuk. His name means “wrestler” and lived from 605-588 BC.
The book of Habakkuk is about the prophet Habakkuk of the nation of Judah. Like the enemies of Judah last week, Habakkuk’s prophecy comes in the form of two questions directed to God on behalf of the people of Judah. Both questions have Habakkuk wrestling with his faith. "Why are you allowing evil to win and where are you now?"
Sin had become rampant. Habakkuk had been praying for 12 years as the people were worshiping idols, sacrificing children to pagan Gods and ignoring God. It had become so bad, the king Jehoiakim began to burn the scrolls, arrest the prophets and then kills one. Times were bad.
Unfortunately, God’s answer was not what he had hoped for but one he had to surrender to.
Let’s dive into to those last few verses of in chapter 3, beginning in verse 17
17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
He enables me to tread on the heights.
Habakkuk is teaching us one of the greatest spiritual lessons - How to live by faith.
Living by faith is not the same thing as being a person of faith or being faithful to a set of religious beliefs. It’s not a matter of just having faith. Every believer has faith. (Romans 12:3) To live life by faith is not about becoming a believer even though it does take faith to be saved. (Ephesians 2:8) There are many born again believers who are saved, love the Lord, and have faith, but they don’t live their lives by faith.
Faith is an action word.
Habakkuk foreshadows the rest of the book in chapter 2:4b when he says:
“but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness”
To live by faith, a person is thinking, speaking, and taking action that correspond to God’s Will as revealed in His Word and His witness as demonstrated by Jesus.
Believers who live by faith are willing to trust and obey God even when they don’t fully comprehend all of God’s ways. They’re not troubled by circumstances that seem to contradict the Word of God. They know God does not make mistakes and will work everything together for good. (Romans 8:28) They are not ruled by popular opinion, feelings, or reason. They live everyday trusting the Lord. They know that God is working in them and through them and that living by faith is a process that one grows in every day.
So why do we (as humans) have so much trouble living in faith?
I'm so glad you asked.
We place our trust in the aspects of life we can see, touch and control. Who hasn’t heard, “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” or read “the little engine that could?” It’s hard to surrender our self sufficiency because there is a sense of accomplishment, or pride, in all achievement.
The good news is we are not alone. Even the early church had a problem with self sufficiency to the extent that the apostle Paul had to write a letter to the church plant in Galatia about it.
The Galatians were being told to live by works, ultimately placing the power in themselves. This is an affront to God, the action of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. There were other issues in Galatia but the largest one was “living in Christ by faith.”
Galatians 2: 20 reads:
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
The apostle Paul utilizes the phrase “in the body,” pointing specifically to the physical life of the Christian, as lived “now.” Living by faith is an act that takes place while the Christian is alive on the earth. The idea of presently being “in Christ” is critical to living by faith. We are incapable of living by faith if we haven’t surrendered our life to, as well as continuing to surrender to His loving direction every day.
The object of the belief, trust, or faith by which we as Christians are to live by is Jesus Christ!
To live by faith is to live trusting Jesus, who loved us to the point of dying in our place (John 3:16), purchasing our salvation. Trust is defined as: assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something
We are called to rely on Jesus because we are assured of His love by his character, ability, strength that has already been proved over the last 200 years but more importantly in your life as you come to surrender daily to him. In each of these moments, God does not change but we do. As our character begins to change, our ability to act more like him changes and our strength improves to become more of who God created us to be.
Today, if you're wrestling with God, with putting your faith in Him, trusting Him or relying on Him, let me assure you, as you do, God will redeem your willingness to try.
Creative: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/habakkuk
References: Quest Bible Overviews p:1369-74, NIV compact bible commentary (Sailhammer),
https://www.breakthroughforyou.com/how-to-live-by-faith/ https://www.gotquestions.org/live-by-faith.html
Watch the Sermon on facebook video @church4therestofus
