How Am I Supposed To Live?

Introduction

Habakkuk 2:1–4 KJV 1900

1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, And will watch to see what he will say unto me, And what I shall answer when I am reproved. 2 And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, That he may run that readeth it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, But at the end it shall speak, and not lie: Though it tarry, wait for it; Because it will surely come, it will not tarry. 4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: But the just shall live by his faith.

This is the third installment of a series on the book of Habakkuk. We began a couple Sundays ago with a question, and we’ve been looking at questions ever since.

Habakkuk was a man that questioned God.

He has doubted the plan of God, he has despaired over the patience of God, and he has become discouraged with the purposes of God.

Habakkuk is watching his society crumble at its very core, only to feel as if God is silent about the situation.

Habakkuk has asked questions like, “God, do you care?;” and, “God, are you sure you know what you are doing?”

He’s received answers to his questions, only now to be faced with another question. He now faces the question that if God is really in control, even when things are so out of control then, “How am I supposed to live?”

This is a question of relevance today…What are we supposed to do in the middle of a society that is crumbling? This world is so corrupt; it’s so confused. I have sit, prayed, wondered, what in the world we are supposed to do in the age we live in...

You try to help people out, but they just keep going back to the same old stuff, you try to give people honest advice and really help them, but they just will not do what they need to; you try to witness, and share the love of Christ, and people are concerned with anything and everything else except what they need to be!

I don’t know how many times I have looked at a news headline recently, and thought, “This is like a watching a train-wreck! You see it happening, you know what the end result will be, but you can’t do anything to stop it!”

How are we supposed to live our lives, and how does God expect us to live our lives when we have more questions than answers?

We are about to find out from the Prophet Habakkuk...

Back in chapter 1, we see faith being tested!

Here in chapter 2, we will see faith trusting!

We have looked at Chapter 1 and have seen the prophet perplexed. He is now waiting for an answer to his perplexity.

1-We must learn to wait and watch!

Habakkuk 2:1 KJV 1900

1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, And will watch to see what he will say unto me, And what I shall answer when I am reproved.

The word “stand” means, “to stay, to station, or to continue.” In other words, the prophet had made his mind up that he was going to plant himself firmly before the Lord in prayer, and would not move until he had received an answer from Heaven. He was waiting...

There must be a point where we stop complaining and start waiting.

Some people throw questions to God, but they are not patient enough to wait upon him.

Some even walk away from their faith.

F. B. Meyer wrote, “How often God’s answers come, and find us gone! We have waited for a while, and, thinking there was no answer, we have gone our way but as we have turned the first corner the post has come in. God’s ships touch at our wharves; but there is no one to unload them.… It is not enough to direct your prayer unto God; look up, and look out, until the blessing alights on your head.”

We must learn to wait upon the Lord.

We must wait for the Lord by trusting his promises.

We must wait for the Lord by submitting to his will.

We must wait for the Lord by living a holy life.

The Lord will not answer us immediately just because we need an urgent answer.

A. W. Tozer once said, “God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which he must work.”

So, it’s not enough to pray. There is often a time of waiting before we begin to see the Lord’s work in our lives.

Most of us want instant miracles. But God wants us to spend extended time in fasting and prayer before we receive an answer to our prayers. The Bible emphasizes the need to wait upon the Lord.

Psalm 27:14 KJV 1900

14 Wait on the Lord: Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord.

Micah 7:7 KJV 1900

7 Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: My God will hear me.

Waiting time is never wasteful time...

Habakkuk sees himself as a watchman. He is going to “stand” on his “watch, and set upon the tower.”

So, we have Habakkuk waiting and watching, but what is he looking for?

Habakkuk 2:1 KJV 1900

1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, And will watch to see what he will say unto me, And what I shall answer when I am reproved.

Habakkuk is waiting to see what God will do. He is watching for some unexpected happening.

He has climbed the heights to get away from the confusing noise of the street. He’s put himself in a place where He can hear that still, small voice!

He wants to hear what God has to say, and see what God will do.

Again, he is going to “stand upon his watch.” He is not moving, and he is not leaving until he receives a word from the Lord.

Habakkuk is waiting and watching for the answer God will give Him!

2-God’s answer!

The answer is three-fold…The first part of the answer is:

Write!

Habakkuk 2:2 KJV 1900

2 And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, That he may run that readeth it.

God tells Habakkuk that he is to write the vision and write it plain on a wooden tablet, clear enough to read. What they would do is put public announcements like this in the market place where they could be seen and read by all passers-by.

Those who read the notice would tell others, thus spreading the new by word of mouth!

The message here was to be so emphatic that he who reads it will run.

I can’t help but think about the written Word right here..The Word of God!

What I’m about to say really comes from the position of me being a Preacher, but it’s applicable with all Christians...

Habakkuk first had to see the vision.

You think about this…You can’t make anyone else see what you don’t see for yourself…We will talk about this in depth tonight as we look at the assurance of the believer from 1 John...

Habakkuk had to make it known as permanently as possible.

He was told to write the vision…We must do what we can to make a permanent impact on others!

Habakkuk then had to make it known.

We must do what we can to make the Word of God known, and make it known in as many ways as possible!

Habakkuk had to make it plain.

We must proclaim the truth of God as clearly as possible!

Habakkuk had to make it practical.

We must seek to make God’s Word relate to the real life of those who listen.

The second part of God’s answer is:

Wait!

Habakkuk 2:3 KJV 1900

3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, But at the end it shall speak, and not lie: Though it tarry, wait for it; Because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

But, Habakkuk has already been waiting!

Habakkuk must learn to watch for God, and to wait on God. He must learn that God is not merely working to crush evil in the world, for He could do that with the blink of an eye. Rather, God is making men and molding nations so that ultimately He will be enthroned, and exalted as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Waiting is difficult. Suspense is difficult and hard to take when the heart is waiting for God to speak and lead on.

We are so impatient. We want everything done immediately, but God is never in a hurry. He will answer and work in His own time. He knows what is best for us.

The prophet’s passion for righteousness persisted through gray days and dark nights. In the midst of his uncertainty he is waiting on God to answer his problem.

God’s answer that Habakkuk had been waiting on was to write, but he was going to have to wait to find out what to write!

God tells him not to worry though, it’s going to come!

The principle involved in verse 3 applies to many future prophecies and events. The fulfillment of these prophecies seems remarkably slow, but I remind you that God’s clock is much bigger than our clock, and He sees the “end from the beginning.”

Every prophecy concerning the birth of Christ took thousands of years to be fulfilled, but every single of one of them were fulfilled to the letter.

Every prophecy concerning the second coming of Christ has slumbered for thousands of years, awaiting their ultimate fulfillment. Yet, God has not forgotten His Word, nor has He failed His Word; but, He will fulfill His Word at the precise moment of His sovereign determination.

The third part of God’s answer is:

Trust Me!

Habakkuk 2:4 KJV 1900

4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: But the just shall live by his faith.

Verse 4 contains a two-fold scenario. It presents us with the requirement of faith as it pertains to 2 totally different categories of people.

We read, “His soul which is lifted up is not upright in him.” That is a direct reference to the Chaldeans, the nation God was going to use to bring judgment upon His people.

The “soul” of the Babylonians was “lifted up” with pride over their military might and great achievements. They had built an impressive empire they thought was invincible.

James 4:6 (KJV 1900)

6 ...God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

If a person if filled with pride, they will be refused, resisted and rejected by Almighty God.

What would cause a person to reject Christ? It is pride! A person who rejects Jesus Christ does so because he thinks that he can get by on his own, that his good will out weigh his bad; or, that God will grade him on a curve.

Thus, he becomes self-sufficient rather than Savior-sufficient only to realize that, in the end, he will spend eternity apart from God he thought he did not need.

God points out first, the proud man whose soul is lifted up. Second, God points out the just man who lives by faith!

What did these attitudes have to do with the answer to Habakkuk’s question?

God’s point is that Proud People second-guess God’s actions. Just People may question why God did what He did, but they will always trust Him!

Trust Him, even when you can’t track Him!

The short statement, “The just shall live by his faith” is one of the most profound statements in the entire Bible!

This is God’s answer to Habakkuk, and it’s God’s answer to all men for all time!

To show how important this statement is, it’s repeated three times in the New Testament…

Romans 1:17, which emphasizes “the just”

Galatians 3:11, which emphasizes “shall live”, and

Hebrews 10:38, which emphasizes “by faith.”

In the midst of a wicked and collapsing society, I am to live by faith, you are to live by faith, and this church is to live by faith. We are lay hold of God’s revealed Word and say “Amen, so be it, Lord. You do whatever you are going to do, and help me to be whatever you want me to be.”

Conclusion

Friends, this is the key to understanding the Bible, and knowing how to live the rest of our days. We must step out of this world and enter the throne of grace in another world.

We must ascend to the hill of the Lord.

We must rise above the external to the eternal, above the human to the Heavenly, above the misery to the majesty.

We must look unto Jesus “the author and finisher of our faith.” We must lay claim to the promise that He will not forget us, He will not forsake us, and He will not flee us, because He cannot fail us.

He’s the same yesterday, today, and will be the same tomorrow!

Let me give something I found while studying this week that we should all be praying…

“Let my faith be today What it will be tomorrow When I've seen the victory You already see”