“The Just Shall Live by His Faith” (Habakkuk 2:4)
In the face of impending destruction by the Chaldeans, the prophet Habakkuk questioned how God could use an unrighteous people to destroy a more righteous nation: Why, LORD, do you hold your peace “when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?” (Habakkuk 1:13).
Habakkuk
Part of the answer to this question is to be found in God’s purposes for the faithful. God seeks to correct them (Habakkuk 1:12), and refine them as silver or gold (Ezekiel 20:18-22, Zechariah 13:9, Malachi 3:3). Part of the answer to this question is to be found in God’s purposes for the wicked. He will bring them to ultimate punishment (Habakkuk 2).
However, the answer to this question is also found in the attitude of the individual. The world’s collapsing around us need not be regarded as God’s personal judgment upon the individual. To the contrary, adversity provides opportunity for God’s people to shine forth. Difficult circumstances are what just men make of them. And faith is the tool by which one can make difficulties turn out well. Under occasions of distress, and in the face of wicked men, “The just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).
This sentiment uttered by Habakkuk is echoed in the New Testament in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38. The single theme that runs through the threads of these contexts is that external circumstances do not dictate the faithfulness of God’s people. Whether those circumstances concern the fragile relationship of Jews and Gentiles (Romans), the subversive teaching of Judaizing teachers (Galatians), or the threat of persecution by Jewish friends and family (Hebrews) – regardless the circumstances, “the just shall live by his faith.”
“Faith” in these passages is not merely the personal beliefs of the individual. It includes such. However, in order to have beliefs, one must have something to believe. The individual places his faith in God’s message (Romans 10:17), and the message of God can always be believed and obeyed by the individual. Traditions cease; laws change; nations fall, and friends fail, but God does not change (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8), and His word endures (Matthew 24:35). So long as the world stands, the individual will always have the opportunity to respond to God’s word in faith, and in so responding, he will live therein – “the just shall live by his faith.”
In so responding to God’s word, the individual proves his own character. He proves himself to be just/righteous. This righteousness, however, is not of his design; it is of God. He submits to the righteousness of God (Romans 10:3), and he becomes what God wants him to be (Colossians 3:10). In so submitting, the individual finds his own salvation (Romans 1:16), and he finds the abundant life (John 10:10). It is a life worth living precisely because it is founded upon that Eternal Rock (Matthew 16:18, 1 Corinthians 3:11), “and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed” (Romans 9:33). “The just shall live by his faith.”
The concern of God’s people (Christians today) has never been, is not, and will never be, to bring a person to verbally utter some “magic” formula of words in absentia of a transformed life. The “sinner’s prayer” and all other alleged incantations for salvation, are wholly devoid of the kind of faith God desires us to have, because they are not based upon the scriptural premise, “The just shall live by his faith.” This issue of the Christian Worker concerns gaining a broader concept of “faith” than is popularly held in society today. It is our prayer that in studying this material you will so deepen your understanding of the topic so that you may be among those just who live by your faith.