Living by faith

If there is anything I have learned or am learning from reading the prophets (both minor and major) is that God is a repetitive God. In His kindness, He says the same message over and over again often with different words in the hope of wooing His people to Himself. His unrelenting spirit is mind-blowing, unbelievable, and unheard of. God is truly unique in the pursuit He has for His people; His patience overflows and His love abounds as He continues his chase. However, as grand as these can be, what I find striking is the way God uses his prophets to grow them and teach them truths about Himself and life with Him. Habakkuk is one such prophet who learned and grew more simply by obeying the Lord, speaking His words, and asking Him questions.

Just like Jeremiah, Habakkuk has its setting during the decline of Judah as a nation of the Lord. Judah is still very immersed in sin and prostitution to other gods, and the country is filled with injustice everywhere which is something Habakkuk decries. In his writing, Habakkuk is exasperated; It seems he can no longer take the injustice and the evil that is prevalent there. Another thing Habakkuk can’t get his head around is the fact that God does not seem to care about any of the things that are going on despite being a God of justice and a Holy God. When one has such questions about the character of God, the best place to get answers is always at the source, which is what Habakkuk did. He simply raised His concerns to God in prayer. In His kindness, God answered but not in the way Habakkuk thought. God tells Habakkuk that He will bring judgement to Judah and it will be one that has not been seen or heard of before (Habakkuk 1:5-11). Indeed, the judgement God speaks of here is bringing Babylon, a foreign nation to capture Judah and send them in exile. I believe the fact that the people of God, the nation of the living God, the most high God was going to be captured by a foreign nation who did not even know the Lord was simply inconceivable. Not only was it a foreign nation, but it was also a wicked one who practiced injustice as well. So, in human thinking, God using a wicked nation to punish His own people was really unthinkable and unlike God. It seems Habakkuk espoused this line of thinking. It appears he thought evil should be magically destroyed and the right order of things re-established in Judah without much fuss as if offences had not been made to a Holy God. Habakkuk did not really understand God’s answer, and it seemed to have made him wonder even more about God. For Habakkuk, God’s character did not match His actions; His holiness seemed to be jeopardized simply by allowing evil to persist. So, Habakkuk cried out to God a second time and God responded by telling Habakkuk to focus on the vision or the prophecy He told him regarding the judgement. He specifically tells Habakkuk to write it and make it plain because it will surely come to pass. What is even more striking is that God reiterates it by saying the famous verse “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith” to encourage Habakkuk to keep on believing. In the French translation, this passage says that not only will the righteous live by faith but also that those whose faith flinch are not upright in heart. It is very interesting, as though those that are “puffed up” and those whose faith waivers are the same: not upright, unpleasant to God. This does not sound like the type of answer Habakkuk was expecting. In the midst of his interrogation, his search for answers, God tells Habakkuk to trust Him. God’s answer to Habakkuk is simply to keep believing in the fulfilment of His words, to keep believing in His words until the end because that is the mark of the true believer, the righteous. It is evident that in God’s society, faith is the distinguishing mark between the righteous (those who believe) and the unrighteous (those who don’t).

God’s answer to Habakkuk teaches us that first, many of the questions we fill our minds with about God are not what our focus should be. Similarly, not having all the answers to our questions should be more than okay for us. Second, God is free to answer questions that we ask Him however He wants and third, it is not our place to question God’s ways even if He does not mind. It is not, simply because we are the creatures, and He is the Creator. Moreover, He is in heaven, we are on earth and He does whatever He pleases. The fact that God would answer our questions sometimes should not propel us to continue in our reasoning, instead, it should drive us to focus on His words, trusting His words, and humbling ourselves before Him because what God says is important and He expects us to do something about it. I pray we may all be found righteous, that is living by faith.