Verse of the Day 5/15

Verse of the Day 5/15

Habakkuk 2:2-3

The Righteous Shall Live by His Faith

² And the Lord answered me:

"Write the vision;
    make it plain on tablets,
    so he may run who reads it.
³ 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.  English Standard Version (ESV)

In yesterday's post from 1 Corinthians 9, we considered how we are in the race and the goal is to win the race.  For today's verse we go back to the Old Testament and the book of Habakkuk.  The Lord God instructed the prophet to write the vision, to make it plain that those who would read it would be able to run, to run the race.  It was the same for the Old Testament authors, the kings and prophets and the New Testament authors.

The heading for the passage in the ESV is "the righteous shall live by his faith" which comes  from verse 4.  This important declaration is also made in the New Testament by the Apostle Paul to the Romans 1:17 and the Galatians in Gal. 3:11 and is also employed by the writer of Hebrews in Heb. 10:38.  If our desire is to run the race and ultimately to win the  race, we'll have to live by faith.  The answers to our challenges may not always be clear to us and may take time to be revealed to us, but they will come.  Live in that anticipation.

As we worship this weekend, may we consider verse 4 as we read it from The Message:

"Look at that man, bloated by self-importance—
    full of himself but soul-empty.
But the person in right standing before God
    through loyal and steady believing
    is fully alive, really alive.

We see a lot of that around us in today's society, perhaps more than usual in this election year, people bloated by self importance but soul empty.  May we strive, may we run the race with "steady believing", being "fully alive, really alive" as we wait upon the Lord, living by faith.

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

Habakkuk 2:1-4The Message (MSG)

2 What's God going to say to my questions? I'm braced for the worst.
    I'll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon.
I'll wait to see what God says,
    how he'll answer my complaint.

Full of Self, but Soul-Empty

^2-3 And then God answered: "Write this.
    Write what you see.
Write it out in big block letters
    so that it can be read on the run.
This vision-message is a witness
    pointing to what's coming.
It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait!
    And it doesn't lie.
If it seems slow in coming, wait.
    It's on its way. It will come right on time.

⁴ "Look at that man, bloated by self-importance—
    full of himself but soul-empty.
But the person in right standing before God
    through loyal and steady believing
    is fully alive, really alive.