By Jessica McKillip
This week’s study in Habakkuk 2:6-17 covered the second part of God’s response to Habakkuk’s lament. Last week, we saw God telling Habakkuk that the “righteous shall live by faith” in total trust and dependance on God.
This week we see the contrasting path—the life of the wicked. The righteous man submits to and trusts God while the unrighteous submits to no one. He is arrogant and trusts in his own might and his own decisions. Through the following four woe statements, we get a clear picture of what that looks like in the life of the wicked. These woe statements paint a picture that includes darkness, depravity, and destruction.
So what does this mean for us today? There is a contrast between the two paths in Habakkuk 2—the path of wickedness and the path of righteousness. We’re reminded that if we have chosen to “live by faith,” life is hard. God is telling Habakkuk to live by faith in the midst of violence, chaos, and injustice. He is to trust God in the midst of evil people who will be overtaken by a people who do even more evil!
Just as it was for Habakkuk and those living by faith in his day, so it is also with us. We are to walk by faith in the midst of a culture that doesn’t love God. How do we do this? Like Habakkuk, we go to God, we watch for God, we listen to God, and we live in total dependance and trust in God. Why? Because at the end of the day, we know that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.”
Equip Her 