"But the righteous shall live by his faith." Habakkuk is proclaiming a prophecy against the Babylonian nation and its king. God tells Habakkuk that the Babylonians are "puffed up" (vs. 4a) or proud and so they are not righteous before God (although they may think so because of their pride and vanity). It will take faith to wait patiently for God's plan to unfold, but the righteous believe that God will accomplish it. A proud person relies on himself, whereas a righteous person relies on God. The phrase,"
but the righteous shall live by his faith, is quoted in the New Testament to emphasize that people are saved by grace through faith (Galatians 3:11, Ephesians 2.8) and should live by faith (Hebrews 10:38-39). The kind of faith that Habakkuk describes here is a mature faith, a continuing trust in God that clings to God's promises, even in the darkest days. This kind of faith is better described as
faithfulness. Faithfulness is the measure used to determine how large or how small one's faith is. So let faithfulness be the the basis for your eternal relationship with God.
