[Read Habakkuk 2:2-5]
When you try to get rid of God, where do you turn for help? You no longer have a higher power to look to, so where do you go? Some will turn to other people, and look for help from government or communities or families. Eventually, every one of those will let you down, so where do you go from there? You will eventually turn to yourself and trust yourself.
This is what we’re seeing happening all around us these days. There’s increasing rhetoric about how strong and capable we are. Why? Because, if we’re trusting in ourselves, we have to believe we’re strong enough. We have to believe we can handle anything. People are told to wake up every day and tell themselves, “I’m strong. I’m powerful. I can do this.” We live in a society that is constantly promoting pride and self-reliance. However, our passage this morning tells us that we can either live by pride or live by faith. We can’t do both.
Last week, we ended with Habakkuk taking his stand on the watchtower, waiting for God to answer him—trusting that God would answer him. Today, we get to hear the beginning of that answer. And God tells Habakkuk the answer is really important. It’s so important that Habakkuk must, “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets” (Habakkuk 2:2, ESV). So, Habakkuk needs to write it down so that it will be preserved for future generations. This answer is not just for Habakkuk or even the Israelites who are living at the time. This message is going to be passed on to other generations. That’s why he’s supposed to put it on tablets—write it in stone.
Habakkuk is also supposed to: “Make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.” (Habakkuk 2:2, ESV). He’s told to make the vision plain for a purpose. However, there are three different ways to understand that purpose. Hebrew can be difficult to translate at times. This is one of those instances. This passage could possibly be translated, “Make it plain so that the one who runs can read it.” That would insinuate that Habakkuk needs to write it in large letters—make it like a billboard—so that nobody can miss the message. This passage can also be translated like the ESV translates it, “Make it plain so that whoever reads it may run” but that can be understood in a couple different ways. Running could be understood as the opposite of stumbling. So, this could mean that Habakkuk needs to make the vision clear, so that people would understand it and then run freely—not stumbling and bumbling their way through life.
I think there’s one more way to understand this passage that makes better sense. I think God is telling Habakkuk to make the vision plain so that whoever reads it can run to proclaim the message to others. So that when future generations read this message, they can make haste to let others know what God is doing.
And the beginning of that message is the reminder that you can either live by pride or you can live by faith. And God doesn’t have much good to say about those who try to live by pride.
He compares the prideful person to a drunken person. He says, “Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest.” (Habakkuk 2:5, ESV). The drunken person has lost all moderation. They don’t know when to stop. They keep drinking and drinking and drinking and drinking. Then stumble and bumble their way through life. Since they’ve lost all moderation, they are never satisfied. They continually tell themselves, “Just one more drink. Just one more drink.”
God tells us that the prideful person is the same. The prideful person is never satisfied. God says, “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 2:5, ESV). The prideful person’s greed is never satisfied. They never have enough. They continually tell themselves, “Just one more job. Just one more hour. Just one more nation. Just one more…” They’re never satisfied because they can’t be satisfied. Ultimately, the prideful person has trusted in themselves. They are the ultimate. So, they can’t be satisfied. They have to keep going up and up and up and up, trying to make themselves greater, wealthier, more powerful, more notable, more, more, more, more. Just like the drunk. That’s a terrible way to live, isn’t it? The prideful life is a life lived without contentment and satisfaction.
That’s why God also describes the prideful life as one without rest. He says, “Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest.” (Habakkuk 2:5, ESV). The prideful life is never at rest because the prideful life is never satisfied. You can’t rest. You need more, right? You need to be doing something. You can’t stop. You have to keep going. Every resting moment is a moment when you’re not getting more, and if you’re not getting more, you’re not moving ahead, and if you’re not moving ahead, you're not sure if you're strong enough to take care of yourself. So you keep going and going and going and going and wear yourself out. You’re restless. The prideful life is a life lived without rest.
Now, just as a quick aside: Does this sound familiar to you? Can you look around at our current society and see these things happening? It’s blatantly obvious, isn’t it? You can easily describe our current culture as a restless and unsatisfied people. People are making millions of dollars trying to teach our culture how to be satisfied and how to find rest. Sadly, many of these people are saying that people need to rely on themselves more to be satisfied: work harder and longer, be the best you can be, sleep less, make lots of money. THEN, you will finally be satisfied and able to rest in yourself. It won’t happen. It will only get worse—which is what we’re seeing happen.
That’s why God says that the prideful life is not an upright life. He says, “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him” (Habakkuk 2:4, ESV). When the soul is puffed up with pride, the soul is not upright. To say it more bluntly, the prideful life is a wicked and unrighteous life. Yes, the prideful life will leave you unsatisfied and worn out, and it will eventually destroy you and everyone around you, but it’s actually worse than that. The prideful life is a life lived rejecting the God who created you. That’s wickedness at its core. The prideful life is spitting in the face of God, saying, “I don’t need you! I can do this myself!”
It’s important to recognize that these are general principles, but as God lays out these general principles, he is pointing these general principles toward Babylon—the nation about to judge Israel. Babylon is the epitome of the prideful life. And this becomes very clear when we remember the story of Babylon’s fall. Do you remember what happened? We read about it in Daniel chapter five. King Belshazzar holds a great feast with lots of wine. Everyone gets drunk—more, more, more. Then, Belshazzar pridefully has the gold and silver vessels from God’s temple brought in so that he can drink from them. Then, as they drink from these vessels, they don’t praise God, but they praise the false gods of silver and bronze and iron and wood and stone. In the middle of this drunken pridefest a hand writes on the wall, telling of Babylon’s destruction. Pride comes before the fall.
Rather than living the unsatisfied and restless life by pride, God says, “The righteous shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4, ESV). The wicked will live by their pride. The righteous will live by their faith.
Remember, as we go through Habakkuk, we’re learning how to live in this messed up world. In this messed up world we will be tempted to live by pride—to rely on ourselves and our own strength. God shows us how poorly that works itself out. Rather, if we want to live in this world, and we want to live righteously in this world, we need to live by faith.
The Apostle Paul quotes this verse in the book of Romans. He says, “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, ESV). In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith—or beginning and ending in faith. Another way to say that is, “The righteous life begins and ends with faith.”
You see, the prideful person looks to themself for their righteousness. They think they can live it on their own and earn it. But the gospel teaches us that we cannot make ourselves righteous—we cannot trust ourselves. Rather, we must look to Jesus Christ by faith, asking him to forgive our sins and trusting that his perfect life will be credited to us. By faith Jesus Christ’s righteousness becomes our righteousness. So, we don’t look to ourselves to become righteous, we look to Christ in faith, and receive his forgiveness and his righteousness. That’s how the righteous life begins.
However, our faith doesn’t end there. It only begins there. Notice how this is worded in Habakkuk: “The righteous shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4, ESV). The person who becomes righteous by their faith will continue to live by that faith. It’s faith beginning to end. It’s not just faith at the beginning to get you saved, then trusting in yourself after that. It’s faith every single step of the way.
Notice how faith is described in Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1, ESV). Faith is assurance of things hoped for and conviction of things we don’t see. Assurance and conviction. Those things are there from beginning to end. At the beginning, we have assurance that Jesus Christ has forgiven our sins and conviction that he has given us his righteousness. That’s faith. But then we continue to live our lives with that same faith. We live each day confident that God has forgiven us and made us righteous. We live each day confident that God will provide for our needs. We live each day confident that God will fulfill his promises.
Notice what I just said. Faith is confidence in God. You know what the opposite is, right? Pride is confidence in self. Faith knows that we are too weak and too frail to help ourselves, but faith isn’t weak. Faith isn’t fearful and worrying. Faith is confidence—confidence in the God who created the world and who saved us and who carries us every single moment of every single day.
And here’s why that’s such a powerful way to live. The prideful life can never rest because the prideful life is relying on itself, always at work. However, the life lived by faith and confidence in God can always find rest. We can find rest because we have confidence that our God is in control and that our God is taking care of us. We have confidence that God will fulfill his promises. So, we can sleep at night. We can take a break when we need to. We can even work diligently, but restfully at the same time. Why? Because we have confidence that God is also at work and we trust him.
That also means we can live a satisfied life. The prideful life can never be satisfied. It’s always looking for more, more, more because it is always trying to measure up and assure itself. Yet, when we have confidence in our God, we can be content in any situation. Think about it. When we truly trust our God, and realize that He is in control, we can be content in whatever circumstance—whether we’re in need or whether we have plenty. We know that our God is with us and will take care of us. We can rest and be content. We know there is a reason why we’re in this situation and circumstance and we know our Heavenly Father is watching over us. So, we’re content. We’re satisfied.
And because faith allows us to rest and be satisfied, we can also be patient. When God tells Habakkuk about the vision he says, “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, ESV). The vision hasn’t come true yet. It’s going to happen because God said it’s going to happen, and God doesn’t lie. Don’t worry if it seems like it’s taking a long time. Just wait for it. It’s gonna happen. How do you know it’s going to happen? God said it was going to happen and you have faith in him. So, be patient. Remember, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, conviction of things unseen. So, you’re hoping for this vision to come true? Faith is the assurance of things hoped for. Have faith, wait for it, and be patient. So, you can’t see this vision coming true yet? Faith is the conviction of things unseen. Have faith, wait for it, and be patient. The prideful life is an impatient life, but the life lived by faith is able to be patient and wait because we trust our God.
Faith also allows us to persevere—to keep going and not quit. Patience and Perseverance are closely tied together. Interestingly, the world tries to tell us to rely on ourselves to persevere—pull yourself up by your bootstraps, dig in, keep going, toughen up, that’s the only way you’ll persevere. Yet, scripture tells us the opposite. Relying on yourself is prideful and pride isn’t patient and doesn’t persevere. Why? Because eventually the truth will come out and you will realize that you aren’t strong enough. The day will come, the situation will come, when you finally hit your limit and realize that you can’t save yourself and you can’t have confidence in yourself. And when that day comes, you will quit.
That’s why faith is so powerful in helping us persevere—to keep going when we don’t think we can go any further. That’s what the rest of Hebrews 11 talks about. That’s your homework for this afternoon. Go home and read Hebrews 11 and spend the rest of the week meditating on that chapter. It’s filled with examples of people who persevered by faith. They kept going against all odds. Why? Because they had confidence in themselves? No way! Because they had faith and confidence in their God.
Sure there were times when they had no idea if they could keep on going—and if they would have relied on themselves they would have quit. Rather, they had faith in their God—they had assurance of things hoped for, conviction of things unseen. God had promised to lead them and strengthen them. So, they trusted their God, had confidence in their God, and kept on going. Sure there were times when it felt like they couldn’t take another step, but they trusted their God and took another step. Sure there were times when they were confused by what was going on in the world, confused by what God was doing—they couldn’t see God’s promises working themselves out in the world at the moment—but faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen. God had made promises, they trusted him, and then lived their life by faith in those promises.
That’s how we need to live in this messed up world. We must not fall into the temptation to live the prideful life—trusting in ourselves. That will only lead to an unsatisfied, restless life away from God. Rather, we must continually look to our God, grab hold of his promises by faith with assurance and conviction, then take the next breath and the next step by faith in our God. When we do that, we will find rest and satisfaction in this life. But more importantly, when we live our lives by faith, we will live our life in fellowship with our God.