05 Oct Living by Faith When You Are Frustrated Part 4: A Study in Habakkuk
Tucked away in the middle of an often-overlooked, few thousand-year-old book called Habakkuk is this simple little phrase: “The righteous shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4 ESV). This phrase is God’s answer to why the world is such a complete mess where there is no political, moral, or cultural hope since everyone is evil and everything is wrong. Faith is the godly response to everything that’s going wrong in the world. This little phrase gets repeated three times in the New Testament in what is likely the clearest definition of Christian faith in the entire Bible:
For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. (Hebrews 10:37–11:2 ESV)
We are told here that there are a lot of things for which we just need to trust God’s Word. This includes waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to crush His enemies and set up His Kingdom. None of us were there when the world was made and Adam and Eve ate the fruit salad that ruined everything. None of us were there when Mary the virgin had a baby who was God. And none of us were there when Jesus did His touchdown dance outside of his tomb three days after being crucified.
Faith is easy when you’re healthy, rich, winning, loved, certain, and strong. It’s a lot harder when you’re sick, broke, losing, hated, confused, and weak. It’s especially hard when you’re frustrated.
Faith is trusting what God says while waiting to see what God does.
Faith keeps trusting God’s promises that light is coming while pressing forward in utter darkness.
Faith loads up our truckload of burdens and drives them to the Lord to be dropped off so that we don’t have to carry them anymore.
Faith does not get frustrated with God but instead brings frustrations to God.
Faith is always trusting a God that you do not always understand.
Faith is letting God be your lightning rod to ground out the storms in your life.
Faith is what keeps you going when what you read in the Bible and see in the culture are completely at odds.
Faith has a lot more to do with trusting God than understanding Him.
Faith values relationship with God over resolution of life’s problems.
Faith is trusting what you read in the Word until you see it in the world.
Even the most mature believers hit rough patches with God. Habakkuk brings his frustrations to God not so much to find resolution but to build his relationship with the only one worth having faith in.
Is there a particular area of your life in which you are currently struggling to trust God? How can you bring that burden to God?
