Living By Faith

“If we pray to God we must expect answers to our prayers. Do we in fact, after we have prayed, continue to look to God and eagerly await the answer? Are we like this man [Habakkuk] on his watch-tower, expecting it to come at any moment?” —Martyn Lloyd-Jones, From Fear to Faith

After our lesson on An Unwanted Answer, I sat in the Sunday morning service and listened as the choir sang Bow The Knee.

"In His hands, He holds the power of creation.
With His voice, He spoke, and all things came to be. Yet He hears each simple prayer I bring before Him When I humbly seek His face and bow the knee...

Bow the knee, Bow the knee.
He is King of all the ages Bow the knee.
God alone on His throne, See Him high and lifted up and bow the knee.
Kneel before Him, All adore Him, As you live to love Him more Bow the knee."

And I thought to myself in that moment of reflection, yes, He does hold the power of creation. He did
speak and all things came to be. Creator God, Elohim. "Yet He hears each simple prayer I bring before Him When I humbly seek His face and bow the knee." He hears us, friend!

How amazing is it that we are privileged to come before this God of ours!? This King of all the ages beckons us to bow the knee. This God calls us to bow the knee, come before Him, and adore Him.

"As you live to love Him more Bow the knee." I hope that can be our mantra--live to love Him more.

​Habakkuk: Learning to Live by Faith

How do we please the God of the universe?

• We please Him when we obey His commandments.
• We please Him when we show love to others.
• We please Him when we sacrifice for those in need.

But what pleases Him most is our faith and our faithfulness. Just as He is faithful, we are to be faithful.

These 7 words sum up the entire Christian life:
"...the righteous shall live by his faith" (Habakkuk 2:4b). That's how the Lord responds to Habakkuk's lament, and His words set the course not only for God's people in Habakkuk's day but for believers in our day as well.

Perhaps, this is why Habakkuk 2:4 is quoted, and its message reiterated, twice in the New Testament.

"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.”' Romans 1:16-17

"For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.' Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for 'The righteous shall live by faith.'” Galatians 3:10-11

So, what does it actually mean to live by faith? How do we do that? How do we make intentional decisions in our day-to-day lives that lead to a life lived in faithfulness to God? I want that! I am sure you do too. Habakkuk did as well. Let's look today and see how he accomplished this "living by faith."

"I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

And the Lord answered me: 'Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.

Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples.” Habakkuk 2:1-5

In our study so far of the book of Habakkuk, we see him struggling to deal with and understand why God allows evil to seemingly flourish.

We may struggle with the same things in our lives today. People haven't changed a whole lot since Habakkuk's day. Evil still flourishes today as it did then.

We find Habakkuk in chapter 2 waiting. Waiting is so difficult, isn't it? Maybe you are waiting for God to act on a prayer request that you've been praying over for a very long time. Habakkuk's waiting is a step of faith, and so is ours.

Waiting on the Lord means that we expect Him to act. We expect Him to intervene. We expect Him to come through. We expect Him to answer. Waiting is an act of faith.

​We are not told how long Habakkuk waited, but we know that he didn't give up. Habakkuk's heart was tuned to hear God's heart, and because of that, his waiting—his faithfulness—was rewarded.

In verse 3, the Lord tells Habakkuk "...If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come..." The Lord has answered Habakkuk in the form of a vision and told the prophet to write it down plainly on tablets. He wants the message to be simple and clear. But even though Habakkuk records the simple and clear message there's going to be a time of waiting because there is an appointed time. God's timing is always perfect.

Verse 3 reminds me of our waiting for the appointed time of Christ's return.

"For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay." Habakkuk 2:3

Christ's return is what we are waiting for, isn't it? "...wait for it, it will surely come..."

Let's look at 7 passages of Scripture and see what God promises to those who wait.

As you read through these passages, see if you can clearly define the benefit of waiting as well as the promises to those who wait. Download the free worksheet, and let's get started.

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land." Psalm 37:7-9

"Do not say, 'I will repay evil'; wait for the Lord, and He will deliver you." Proverbs 20:22

"Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore He exalts Himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him." Isaiah 30:18

"But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

"The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." Lamentations 3:25-26

Download the Free worksheet here

"For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." Romans 8:22-25

"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." 2 Peter 3:10-13

There are three things we can be sure of:

1. God's timing is perfect.
2. God's plan is perfect.
3. When the time is right, nothing will stand in the way of His plan.

And a fourth thing we can be sure of is that God is pleased when we wait patiently for Him, trusting that He is faithful to His people and that He is a promise-keeper.

One aspect of real faith is expectation, and deep faith is rooted in the knowledge of God. 

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Habakkuk: Learning to Live by Faith, by Lydia Brownback, is a ten-week, verse by verse, study of the book of Habakkuk. 

Though only three chapters long, the Old Testament book of Habakkuk overflows with plagues, violence, and pleas for deliverance.

Why does God allow evil to flourish? That’s what Habakkuk seeks to understand, and as he waits for God, he discovers that God is faithful to deliver his people from every trouble in His own way and time.

Download and read chapter one for free.

What People Are Saying About This Bible Study

“My daughter and I love using Flourish Bible Studies for our morning devotions. Lydia Brownback’s faithful probing of biblical texts; insightful questions; invitations to engage in personal applications using additional biblical texts and historical contexts; and commitment to upholding the whole counsel of God as it bears on living life as a godly woman has drawn us closer to the Lord and to his word. Brownback never sidesteps hard questions or hard providences, but neither does she appeal to discourses of victimhood or therapy, which are painfully common in the genre of women’s Bible studies. I cannot recommend this series highly enough. My daughter and I look forward to working through this whole series together!” --Butterfield, author, The Gospel Comes with a House Key

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Do you live in anticipation of what God will do? How are you faithfully, practically, and intentionally living day-by-day a life that is rooted in the knowledge of God and expectantly waiting on Him?

You may also be interested in 6 Things We Can Learn From Habakkuk and An Unwanted Answer.

The song Bow The Knee begins "What a privilege to come into God's presence, Just to linger with the One who set me free. As I lift my eyes and see His awesome glory. I remember who He is and bow the knee."

​If you don't know that privilege, please visit Christianity to learn more about it.

In my study of the book of Habakkuk I have identified
Six Things We Can Learn From Habakkuk:

1. ​​God's ways are not our ways, yet He can be trusted.
2. Even when things seem chaotic, God is STILL in control.
3. God wants what's best for us, even when it's hard.
4. Understanding how God works is not my job, trusting Him is.
5. Peace and joy don't come from my circumstances, but from God.
6. My timing is just that—my timing, but God's timing is ALWAYS perfect.

I don't know about you, but I need these reminders constantly. Especially number four! "Understanding how God works is not my job, trusting Him is." So, I created this little bookmark for my Bible. Download your 4-up printable today.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE BOOKMARK HERE

Other Bible Studies by Lydia Brownback:

• ​Judges: The Path from Chaos to Kingship
• Esther: The Hidden Hand of God
• Luke: Good News of Great Joy
• Philippians: Living for Christ
• 1–2 Peter: Living Hope in a Hard World
• James: Walking in Wisdom