'It's all about believing'

 I want to take us on a whistle-stop tour of the old testament prophecy of Habakkuk.

Firstly, is it ever right to complain? It's never right to moan behind someone's back, but it can be okay to take legitimate complains to whoever we have a problem with. For example, if you don't like my writings, feel free to complain, and hopefully I'll take your complaint on board.

Secondly, is it ever right to complain to God? After all, He is righteous, just, holy, good and perfect. Surely we have no right to complain to Him!

God might be good, but the world is bad, and because He is sovereign, we can complain to Him about the state of the world and ask Him to do something about it. Habakkuk complained like this to God, and the Lord didn't tell Him off. Instead, God graciously answered Habakkuk.

Most old testament prophets gave God's message to the people. Habakkuk is more of a conversation between Him and God, that we get to eavesdrop on, to be flies on the wall as it were.

Habakkuk observed ancient Jewish society and saw how unjust it was. He asked God to do something about it. God replied that no-one could ever anticipate His response.

God raised up the Babylonian Empire to judge the Jewish people, to destroy their homeland and to cart them off into captivity, into exile. This raised a second complaint from Habakkuk, but before we address that, I want to mention a fascinating new testament quote of God's promise of something unimaginable.

Even though God was originally referring to the unimaginable destruction of the promised land by the Babylonians, the Apostle Paul quotes Him in relation to the good news of salvation in the Lord Jesus. Was Paul tearing God's quote out of context?

I believe another Pauline quote reconciles the Babylonians and the gospel. For those who love God, who are called according to His purpose 'all things work together for good'- whether the good gospel, the bad Babylonians, or the ugly exile in Babylonia.

Habakkuk complained again because the Babylonians were even worse than the Jews- how is it fair to use the Babylonians to judge the Jews?

Habakkuk described himself as a watchman. He wasn't just a spectator of Jews Vs. Babylonians with God as referee. He wanted to warn God's people of what was to come.

The heart of God's response was to say that 'the righteous shall live by faith'. In context, we can have faith that the Babylonian world in opposition to God will get its comeuppance. Also, we have faith that God will be glorified all around the world.

This quote is mentioned thrice in the new testament. Firstly, in Romans one. Romans is all about righteousness and how we get to become righteous with God. Romans one says irreligious people are unrighteous. Romans two is about how religious people are unrighteous. Romans three says 'all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God', but it goes on to say we can be accepted by God through faith in Christ crucified.

Five hundred years ago in Germany, a monk was miserable because he was coming to realise that the righteous shall not live by works. Thankfully, He came across this verse, and was born again!

Martin Luther realised how liberating it was for the righteous to live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and tried to reform the Roman Catholic Church. They kicked him out and had a meeting where they declared that we're not saved by grace alone.

On the contrary, Paul told us that 'it is by grace we have been saved, through faith, and this isn't from ourselves, it's a gift of God, not by works, so that no-one can boast'.

Having been saved, how ought we to live? That's what Paul's letter to the Galatians is all about. People were confusing the Galatian Christians that they had to be Jewish to be proper Christians. They had to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses.

Thankfully, Paul quotes Habakkuk again and emphasises that the righteous shall live by faith. Having begun by faith, we don't need to top ourselves up by works. That would be an insult to the Lord Jesus, to tell Him that His death wasn't enough.

How do we reconcile this with James's teaching that faith without works is dead? Well as Paul himself says in Ephesians two: 'for we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which He has prepared in advance for us to do'.

We're saved by faith alone. Yet the faith that saves is never alone, it's always accompanied by works, which are the evidence of our faith. As James says, 'as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead'. The evidence we're alive is that we're breathing. The evidence we have faith is that we do good works, by the Holy Spirit of God.

Finally, before I conclude, we come to Hebrews, where faith is defined as confidence in what we hope for and assurance of unseen truths. Habakkuk is quoted again. Jesus is coming back soon. So don't give up the faith. Keep persevering. Don't shrink back and be destroyed. Press on for the eternal, undeserved prize.

Jesus healed a man born blind, who could see He is the Son of God. The religious people who claimed to have spiritual insight were blind to Christ's identity.

Some people say seeing is believing. Yet believing is seeing. If we receive faith as a free gift of God, we gain spiritual insight.

Habakkuk's conclusion was to say that even if there was a famine, he would still praise the Lord. Will we?