What Do You Do When You are Faced with Disaster?

Wisdom Scripture  

Proverbs 11:2, "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom."

Wisdom Quote 

"Biblical wisdom comes from God alone, and the value of wisdom in Proverbs is intimately connected with godliness, piety, and obeying God's instructions (Prov 3:1–12). Wisdom is given to those who seek it (1 Kgs 3:9–14; Prov 1:20; 8:1; Jas 1:5)." [1] 

Insights 

The second half of Habakkuk 2:4 gives one of the most essential phrases in the Old Testament, quoted three times in the New Testament.

 If you compare a few good English translations, you will see that some say, "will live by his faith," and others "will live by his faithfulness." The Hebrew term here is 'emunah, which means "firmness, steadfastness, fidelity, faithfulness, and trust." 

 Paul quoted Habakkuk 2:4 in Romans and Galatians to explain that salvation is received by faith as a gift rather than by works of righteousness.

 Here is the problem: Is 'emunah in Habakkuk 2:4 picturing faith in God that makes us righteous, or is it picturing faithful living, which a righteous person should do to please God? In the immediate context, God was answering Habakkuk's question about the unfair Babylonian invasion that was brutally crushing his people. God's answer was that Habakkuk and his people were to be faithful to him in the face of it.

The apparent conflict between "by faith" and "by faithfulness" is a false dichotomy. "Faithful living and trust . . . are inextricably bound together." 9 The Hebrew term 'emunah encompasses both trust and faithfulness. The Bible does not know of a true faith that is not faithful. And a faithful life comes from trust in our faithful God. "In other words, faith and faithfulness are two sides of the same coin. 

In the face of disaster, Habakkuk was not to sink into despair but to live faithfully to God's Word, trusting in the Lord that what he had promised would undoubtedly happen. 

Hebrews 10:39 quotes Habakkuk 2:4 to encourage believers to stay faithful to God through harrowing trials and challenging experiences. Continue to live by faith, faithfully obeying God's Word. Bruckner explains with this analogy: "Faith flows into faithfulness as naturally as spring water flows into a streambed." There is no conflict between the spring and the stream. 

Habakkuk teaches us, despite confusing circumstances, to live by faith, faithfully following God's Word that will undoubtedly come to pass. The point is not to understand everything God does and why but to trust in God and faithfully follow his Word.

As we wrap up our blog posts about the book of Habakkuk, you can dive deeper with Bruce B. Miller's book "When God Makes No Sense" here.