Living By Faith

Throughout history, there have been times when Christians struggled as result of government policies.  Sometimes those policies have been adopted with the obvious intention of destroying the church, while other times they are adopted without thought for some other purpose.  Today, we are going through some trying times again, with some states and jurisdictions forbidding any public worship services, and others limiting the number who are allowed to attend.  As a result, Christians are faced with situations modern American Christians have never faced.  Many of those situations closely resemble the prophecies of the period shortly before Christ’s return.  How should we respond to them?

 

The northern kingdom of Israel had been conquered and destroyed by the Assyrians, but because they followed God, the nation of Judah had remained independent.  Gradually, the nation of Judah had drifted away from God as well, even though they had a few kings who tried to prevent it from happening.  The book of Habakkuk was written Just before the Chaldean people led by Nebuchadnezzar established the Babylonian Empire, during the reign of Josiah. 

 

Josiah was one of the best kings Judah ever had, doing everything he could to turn the people back to following God completely.  While the people enthusiastically went along with his reforms, their underlying attitudes had not changed and Habakkuk warned them that God was going to use the Babylonian empire to punish them for not following him.  It was with this in mind that Habakkuk 2:1-4 was written.  “And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.  For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.  Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.”  There was nothing they could do to prevent the events Habakkuk was predicting.  He was to write them down so people could understand they were from God.  Those who were living in pride would do what they though was best, but those who trusted God would obey his commands regardless of what was going on around them. 

 

Almost five hundred years before, in Proverbs 3:5-8, Solomon had advised, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.  Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.  It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.”  No matter how smart or well educated we may be, we don’t know everything.  If we depend on our own intellect and abilities, sooner or later we are going to get ourselves into trouble.  Because God is all powerful, and all knowing, he can guide us in the best way, and overcome any problem we might face.  By following his leadership, we can be sure of the outcome, even though things may seem pretty bad for a while, as Romans 8:28 tells us.  “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

 

If we are going to please God, we are going to have trust God and do as he said.  Hebrews 11:6 warns, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”  When we do things our own way, we often find ourselves interfering with what God has planned.  Unfortunately, when things don’t seem to be going the way we think they should, we may find ourselves trying to hedge our bets and doing it the way we think is best.  Hebrews 10:38 warns that this will not please God.  “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” 

 

No matter how bad things may seem, we need to keep following Gods direction.  In Revelation 2:10. Jesus said, “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”  We are to be obedient to him even if it results in imprisonment or death.  In this series, we will be looking at how this applies to us in this present situation.