Living by Faith
Habakkuk 2:4–5
The righteous shall live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4
The way of the righteous is the way of faith in God. The way of the wicked is the way of drawing back from faith in God. The first submits to God and trusts God. The second submits to no one. The person who chooses the second way is arrogant. He says, “I don’t need religion. I can take care of myself. I can do without God.”
If what we need is God, as the Bible claims, and if we turn to things instead of God, as we so often do, these other things will inevitably disappoint us no matter how much we have or how fervent our misplaced devotion to them may be. What do you turn to for strength and security in life? Is it money? Do you think that if you only have enough money you will be all right? Is it other people? Do you think that somehow your friends will help you get by? Is it success? Fame? Your own strength and ability, whatever they may be? Do you think that if you get all these in order, somehow you will manage?
They will not be enough! You and I are made in the image of God, destined for fellowship with God. If we will not have God, then there will always be a vacuum—a terrible, hellish vacuum—in our lives.
The challenge presented to us here is that choice. Will it be the world’s way, the way of the ungodly with its emptiness, frustration, and eventual ruin? Or will it be God’s way, the way of faith in him who alone is worthy of that faith? Joshua presented the choice to the people of his day. He had come to the end of his life and was soon to die. But before he died, he brought the people together and reminded them of all God had done for them from the time he first called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans to the day he brought them out of Egypt into the Promised Land. At the end he said, “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Josh. 24:15).
Joshua was saying what Habakkuk later said in other language. Though the world should rise up against us, the righteous will live by faith. It is by faith in the righteous God alone that we can stand against it.
Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865
Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.