Righteous Live By Faith

Introduction

It is not too hard to look out at the world around you and become discouraged. You may even question are things going to get better anytime soon. You might even wonder why is God letting this happen. Truthfully there are seasons in life where we get stuck in valleys and we don’t know why or how to get out.

Valleys are also a testing ground for faith. As Paul says in Romans 5:3-5

Romans 5:3–5 NRSV

3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

I have listened to a sermon preached on this passage and can’t help but wonder if sometimes we need to hear some scriptures over and over before the message in those words sinks in.

I think the Israelites during Habakkuk's time needed to also hear the word of God multiple times for the message to sink in.

Living in valleys

During the prophet’s time, much was going wrong in the world of the prophet. Neighboring nations were conquering and exiling Israel. How in the world did they get in this situation? Why did God allow the evil to continue to be done against them? How long would God let this go on? Many questions did they have at that time. While we may say of course it was going to happen since you broke the covenant. Of course God was going to allow the punishment to happen because God requires justice when breaking the laws. Yet when we group everyone into the same category as bad, it loses site of those who suffered because of others sinful living. Habakkuk might not have been living a sinful life and wondered how long would he suffer and how long would God allow this to go on. How long would God punish them? How long would God allow evil against his chosen people?

While we are not Israel and we are not being invaded and destroyed by neighboring countries, we can still related in that you can look at the world and it seems that bad things are happening around the world. There are nations invading other countries. There are leaders of nations who seek to manipulate and control the masses through fear and hatred. There are people who suffer just because of where they were born or what family they were born into.

You can look across our nation and wonder the same thing. A nation that was supposed to be a beacon of democracy and for the liberty and pursuit of happiness of the people has now become a nation of division where depending on what political party you voted for, or where you stand on what issue, you are made into villain and all that is wrong with the world or you are a martyr who is persecuted by the other half of the world. There is no such thing as having conversations about different viewpoints or positions on a topic. You must walk on eggshells because we live in an angry divided land where we have lost the ability to follow God’s commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. We need God to intervene to raise us up from the valley we are stuck in.

Climbing out of the valley

It is a wonder how things happen sometimes. For the Israelites, their suffering and exile would last for 70 years before they would be allowed back into the promised land as a people again. Things were never the same though as they would never again be the nation that they once were. Never again would they be free of threats from their neighbors. Yet out of this God brought something new. It may have taken several hundred years to be fulfilled but God proved faithful to once again provide a permanent hope. Israel did once again return to the promised land and rebuilt the temple that was destroyed. Politics and seeking to become a holy nation were always at odds with each other. Yet today, there is still a remnant that remains in the land of Israel. They have been carried through many valleys and yet they still are a people of God.

How do we as Christians get out of this valley? How do we like the prophet cry out to God how long must we live like this? We too must stand at our watchpost and wait on the Lord to answer our cry for help.

Listen again to Habakkuk 2:4

Habakkuk 2:4 NRSV

4 Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.

How long must we rely on our own strength and our own feeble power to attempt to fix things ourselves? Today, we still wrestle between being a holy people and political. We try to manipulate through politics to gain power and control. Yet this is not how we get out of this valley we are in. Like the prophet we must humble ourselves before God and stand watch and wait for God’s response to our prayers. Righteous live by their faith is what we are told here. Faith is about what is possible with God, not what is possible by our own means. Perhaps our own means is what got us here. Perhaps our own greed for power and control divided this nation.

Today I am not asking you to support one politician or another. Today I am not asking you to join this movement or that one. Today I am asking you to join me in humbling ourselves before God to ask how long Lord must we be in this valley. Then we stand watch and wait for the Lord to respond. Faith is what makes us right with God. Faith in Christ is what makes us redeemed. Today let us lay aside our faith in politics of humankind and remember our faith in God to redeem us as a people of Christ.