LIVING FAITH (2)

“Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall LIVE by HIS FAITH” – Habakkuk 2:4

True Believers take personal responsibility for Divine Vision and LIVING FAITH: “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall LIVE by HIS FAITH” (Hab.2:4). This was God’s Vision-inspiring response to Habakkuk, on the eve of a Chaldean invasion. The proud heathen were coming against Judea in their barbarous fashion – conquering, massacring, building structures by forced labour, while making resistance or escape impossible. In the earlier chapter, the prophet was perplexed concerning the seeming triumph of evil. He wondered if there was still Divine Providence in place! He then broke into pathetic expostulation with God Himself, querying how He could permit the treacherous and the wicked to so cheaply devour the righteous (Hab.1: 12-17).

The prophet’s cry ascended in his perplexity: “You are of purer eyes that to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he?” (Hab.1:13). He faced the problem of the strength of the wicked and the humiliation of the Just; the same that Job, the Psalms and Ecclesiastes had wrestled with. Now, the sufferer was not an individual but a nation – God’s chosen people, the seed of Abraham!

Habakkuk spoke out of his doubt and distress but didn’t have to wait long for an answer. As the sun rose upon the watchman who all night long had looked out through the darkness, the Lord spoke: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry” (vv. 2-3). These became the stay and comfort of his soul and the souls of his people.

Habakkuk was assured by the Word of the Lord, that the Vision of a Divine Order in the midst of the world’s confusion and perplexity, would come at the appointed time. He must assume the attitude of patient, trustful expectation that would not be disappointed. Faith is the “substance” of Hope (Heb.1:1). Faith is the substance of Vision. Faith actualizes Vision. When we claim to have a Vision, our Faith will substantiate it. Faith perceives and sees by the eyes of the spirit what the physical eyes are yet to behold.

Faith is the assurance of a desired expectation; the conviction of the certainty of what the spiritual sense has perceived, even though the physical senses are yet to see, hear, touch, feel, or handle it. Faith sees with the “eyes” of Vision. Faith sees the spiritual – the ultimate Reality! When a desire or expectation is invisible to the human eyes or impossible to the senses, Faith brings it into spiritual focus and calls it a Fact. Living Faith is birthed and sustained by Divine Vision of things unseen and eternal.

The Just shall LIVE not simply to live by Faith, but “by HIS Faith.” Faith Living and Living Faith are focused on God’s kind of Life – the only way to live in Christ. The Believer cannot settle for anything less. If we limit ourselves to our efforts and our logic, then we only give God a token of faith. God is calling us to active, mature, Living Faith that is passionate about God’s Vision for the Future.

As we stand upon our Prayer-Watch and set ourselves on the Tower of Word-Meditation, far above contingencies of the times, and beyond natural limitations, God will honour our stance and usher us into realms of Visions. We can soar like the eagle over life’s challenging mountains We can vault limiting valleys. With the visionary eye of the eagle, we can watch to see what God is saying through His Word and by His Spirit, and press victoriously into our ordained Future and Glorious Destinies with Living Faith.