Faith is a topic we discuss often within Christianity. It’s the basis of our salvation for eternity and our sanctification on earth. Faith, of course, is not described just in the New Testament but in the Old Testament as well.
In Habakkuk 2:2–20 we read God’s second answer to Habakkuk in which Habakkuk has learned about faith in different circumstances. If we summarize these nineteen verses into one big idea it would be this: God responds to Habakkuk with a message about the future, a message for the faithful, and a message for Babylon. In these verses we learn that righteous standing starts and continues by faith in God.
In Habakkuk 2:2–3 we read about God’s plans for the future and learned that it’s by faith we wait. In Habakkuk 2:4–5 we read about God’s plans for the righteous and learned it’s by faith we live. In Habakkuk 2:6–20 we read God’s plans for the wicked. In these verses we learned it’s by faith we suffer.
By faith we wait, by faith we live, and by faith we suffer. Faith is the key topic of Habakkuk 2:2–20. As Bible teacher and author Taylor Turkington has written, “The call to live by faith is in contrast to the way of life of the self-reliant.”[1] We’ve seen that “the righteous will live by his faith” (Hab 2:4).[2] The late theologian John Walvoord says faith is “not only the central theme of Habakkuk but of the entire Scripture.”[3] As Warren Wiersbe once wrote, “A faith that can’t be tested can’t be trusted.”[4]
Faith is like a boat anchor. An anchor is a heavy curved piece of metal, tied to a chain, that is released to the bottom of the ocean or lake, and is connected to a boat. The anchor keeps the boat solid and steady among the shifting tides, wind, and storm. But for that anchor to work it has to be tied to something. The anchor has to be connected to the boat in order to help the boat. The apostle Paul (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11) and the author of Hebrews (Heb 10:37) showed us—by quoting Habakkuk 2:4—that our faith is our anchor tied to Jesus Christ. He was fully God and fully man. He died on the cross for our sins. And it’s through our faith in him that we live spiritually and that we will endure life physically here on earth. Our faith in him keeps us solid and steady among the shifting tides, winds, and storms of life.
Chip Ingram honestly reveals what many of us feel about faith. “Living by faith is exciting and, frankly, incredibly scary at times. But when you take a radical step of faith in God, God always comes through. You know what happens then? Your view of God grows.”[5] That’s the faith that Habakkuk and the righteous relied on in the seventh century BC, and that’s the faith we rely on too. May your view of God grow as you live by faith in him.
[1] Taylor Turkington, Trembling Faith: How a Distressed Prophet Helps Us Trust God in a Chaotic World (Brentwood, TN: B&H Publishing, 2023), 72.
[2] Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.
[3] John Walvoord, Every Prophecy of the Bible (Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook, 1990), 308.
[4] Warren Wiersbe, The Delights and Disciplines of Bible Study (Colorado Springs: David C Cook, 2018), 50.
[5] Chip Ingram, Holy Ambition: Turning God-shaped Dreams Into Reality (Chicago: Moody, 2010), 90.