How Faith Operates - The One Year Unlocking the Bible Devotional

This vision is for a future time. . . . If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.   Habakkuk 2:3

God was inviting Habakkuk to live by faith. God would prosper Babylon, and Jerusalem would be crushed. The apparent triumph of evil would make it seem like God’s purpose was overturned, but God was saying, “My purpose will be achieved in the end. You have my Word. Trust me.”

Faith trusts in the Word of God. That’s what Abraham did. God promised to make Abraham’s descendants like the stars in the heavens (see Genesis 15:5). The only problem was that Abraham was one hundred years old, and his wife was nearly ninety! The statistical probability of Isaac’s birth was nearly zero!

Sight said, “There’s no hope,” but faith went beyond sight and found rest in God’s Word. Paul said that Abraham “figured his body was as good as dead” (Romans 4:19), yet he gave glory to God, being “fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises” (4:21).

Six hundred years after Habakkuk received this assurance, the Babylonian empire was replaced by the Roman empire, but notice the same evil at work: a couple of false witnesses tell lies to a prejudiced jury. Why would God allow that? Soldiers stand around a man whose hands are tied and strike him, spit on him, and mock him. Why would God allow that? An innocent man is nailed to a cross, and as he dies, he cries out, “My God, my God, why?” (Matthew 27:46).

God allows evil to have its day, but he uses that evil to accomplish his purposes. Of course, sight will never tell you that. But when faith looks at the cross, it sees God at work and believes his promise. Faith sees that Christ came into the world and, through his death, accomplished the salvation God promised.

This is how faith operates. It looks beyond the observable realities and counts on God’s promise. You may be looking at a pretty discouraging situation in your own life right now. Perhaps there’s no basis for hope in what you see. God calls you to live by faith. Faith recognizes the realities but rests in the promises of God.

For further reading, see Romans 4