“Rooted” With Billy Huddleston

Living by Faith

Habakkuk 2:4b

“. . . but the just shall live by his faith.”

​There seems to be a natural tension between faith and doubt. I’m not sure if you would say this is the case in your life; but it certainly is in mine. I don’t want you to misunderstand what I’m saying. I believe the Word of God is true. I really do! Call me old fashioned but, I believe there was a man named Adam in the most beautiful garden imaginable. I still believe there was a man named Noah that built an ark. (In fact, I can take you to it. It’s practically in my backyard. It’s in Williamstown, KY! Ha!) I know there was a man named Jonah that spent days in the belly of a big fish.

​Not only do I believe those things, but I also believe every promise that God made in His book is true! I really, really do! But sometimes life begins to mess with what I believe. My heart believes what God has said, while my head begins to interfere.

​Do you have this struggle?

There just seems to be this natural struggle between faith and doubt.

It seems like there always has been. And, it’s easy to get to the place where it seems like it always will be.

​I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. It could be because of a number of things. But I actually think it’s just because of life. We all live in a real world, with real issues. Life isn’t easy and if we’re honest, it isn’t even always fun. However, we do know this: God is always good!

​Let me introduce you to a unique prophet. His name is Habakkuk. He’s unique because he doesn’t take a message from God to the people. Instead, he takes his complaints to God. He has a lot of questions. So, he goes to the Source and says, “Can we talk?”.

​He complains.

​God responds.

​(This is just something I want to add: Aren’t you thankful that we have a God who’ll listen to our complaints? Understands our questions? And, will take the time to respond? I know I am! He can take it. He’s long-suffering. For this I’m thankful.)

Habakkuk was struggling with what he saw going on in his world, his time. He begins his questioning and God responds. We’ll not spend a lot of time on this today . . .  Instead, we’ll get to the heart of the matter. It’s found in chapter 2:4b, “. . . but, the just shall live by his faith.”

Faith has been defined many ways.

There have been many bookmarker sayings about faith.

So many clichés have been recited on this subject.

Let me offer what I’m learning.

I’m finding that faith is believing what we read in God’s word, before we see it happening in the world. That’s the heart of faith. Believing what we read before we see.

So, as we join the conversation with Habakkuk, I need to ask you: How’s your faith? It’s tied to your time in His Word. We are always waiting for God to speak, and the truth is, He has spoken. We need to know what He has said so we can hear what He is saying. The just believe what they read in His word, before they see it happening – or despite what they see happening – in the world.