Righteous Living By Faith (Habakkuk 2:4)

 


Tuesday, September 17, 2024


Psalm 40

Habakkuk 1:12-2:5

Ephesians 2:1-10


Observance: Hildegaard of Bingen, abbess and spiritual writer (d. 1179)


Righteous Living By Faith (Habakkuk 2:4)


Yesterday we were complaining to God that evil was being allowed to run rampant. God replied by saying that he would send the Babylonian army to put down that evil. But that wasn’t a good answer for us, and so we went back to God with a new complaint: why is God using evil ways to get rid of evil?


The Babylonians aren’t getting off lightly. They are “as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied.” God has allowed them to scoop up victory after battlefield victory in the net of their armies, to the point where they now worship their own military might – hardly a virtuous tool for God to use for his righteous judgement.


Yet in the midst of all this, God still holds out the hand of friendship: the righteous will live by his faith. One of the lines most often quoted in the New Testament, this principle applies both to nations as well as the individual.


We live by faith, both as a personal soul, and as a national body of people. Our command to pick up our sword and our trowel and build the kingdom of heaven on earth requires faith. Using the eyes of faith allows us to see past apostate Jerusalem and demonic Babylon: we are able to peer into heaven and glimpse the wonder of the depth of the riches of God’s good and wise ways. The revelation is made plain; it awaits an appointed time, and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.


What local and national problems are weighing on your mind? How might you sense a greater presence of God’s unbreakable promise of goodness through it all?


My loving Father, assure me of your goodness and your love. Keep my hands busy at your work, my eyes lifted up to you in faith, and my soul at rest in the love of your Son.

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