Wednesday's Word: Sentinel Of God

 

"For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to the end;
it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry, wait earnestly for it,
because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day."
(Habakkuk 2:3)

"For still a little while, a very little while, and the Coming One will come
and He will not delay.  But the just shall live by faith, My righteous servant
shall live by his conviction respecting man's relationship to God and divine
things, and holy fervor born of faith and conjoined with it; and if he draws back
and shrinks in fear, My soul has no delight or pleasure in him.  But our way is
not of those who draw back to eternal misery, perdition, and are utterly destroyed,
but we are those who believe, who cleave to and trust in and rely on God
through Jesus Christ the Messiah and by faith preserve the soul."
(Hebrews 10: 37-39)

Habakkuk  The Sentinel Of God

(1930)

Frank O. Salisbury

(1874-1962)

British Methodist painter

and stained glass designer

Image courtesy/ The Museum of Methodism

and John Wesley's House

Habakkuk raises the question of the Lord's patience. How can a holy God tolerate
the sins of His own people?  The answer to this is provided in (Chapter 1:5-11) 
 the Chaldeans (neo-Babylonians) would judge Judah.

Habakkuk wonders in (1:12-17) why the wicked Babylonians would be used
to punish Judah when they, the Babylonians, were more wicked
 than His own sinning people.

But in Chapter 2 the Lord announces 5 predictions of doom on the man "whose
soul is not upright in him." (2:4) Judgment will come on the wicked Assyrians
and Babylonians because of their 1: aggression (2:6-8); 2: self-assertion (2:9-11);
3: violence (2:12-14); 4: inhumanity (2:15-17); and 5: idolatry (12:18-20).

In Habakkuk we see the central theme of the Bible:

"The just shall live by faith." (2:4)

This applies to both Jews and Gentiles
 (Romans: 1:17; Galatians 3:11-14); Hebrews (10:38).

This makes it possible for the individual Jew to exercise the simple faith of Abraham
(Genesis 15:6); Romans 4: 1-5) and be saved.  Trust in God, therefore, brings life.
(Genesis 15:6;  John 3: 16:, and Romans 6:23).

Habakkuk's final message recalls the Exodus and wilderness experience and God's
guiding hand of protection.  Habakkuk, overwhelmed and encouraged, knows that
judgment on Judah will soon come.  Yet, he expresses perfect faith: 

"Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." (3:18)

Can you say this when trouble comes?

"The Just Shall Live By Faith"
-Charles Spurgeon