Daily Bread 3/3/2025

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Email from Abiding Place     Daily Bread – March 3, 2025 (The Second Day – Genesis 1:6-8) Habakkuk 2:4 – Behold he who is lifted up, his soul is not upright in him; but the righteous shall live by his faith. The Righteous Believe What God Has Spoken The prophet Habakkuk was the first person to say that the “righteous live by faith” (וְצַדִּ֖יק בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ֥ יִחְיֶֽה) in Habakkuk 2:4. The prophet Habbakuk contrasts the righteous, who live by faith, to those who refuse to hear the Word of the Lord by saying, “The soul who is lifted up is not upright.” The Hebrew word ישׁר has a close relationship to צַדִּיק. The “upright ones” are those who believe the Word of the Lord. In believing the Word of the Lord, one is shown to be righteous. The refusal to believe God is the pride and arrogance of self-will that refuses to hear and cooperate with what God has spoken. It was a terrible thing for the prophet Habbakuk to prophesy how Israel would go into captivity in Babylon. It was contrary to their doctrinal ideas. Yet, something far more contemptible would be spoken to them in the future by the Prophet that the Lord would raise up (Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 3:22). The Apostle Paul repeats the same words spoken by the prophet Habakkuk in the context of the New Testament faith. Just as those who Habakkuk spoke to refused to believe the Word of the Lord, there were the same kind of people in Paul’s day walking after their own concepts of God’s will and seeking to be made righteous by the law. Just as in the days of Habakkuk, these people refused to hear the words of God Paul was preaching. However, the righteousness of God is revealed from Heaven to anyone who will hear and believe. Jesus announced the new and living way, the New Covenant. He made it very clear how no one can be right with God through the Law (Galatians 3:11). To the religious Jews, this announcement would have been more infuriating than what Habakkuk said to the religious Jews of his day. Regardless, those who are righteous are those who will hear the Word of the Lord and believe. Obedience will definitely follow believing whether it was to be taken captivity into Babylon, or to repent and turn to Jesus for righteousness. Blessings, Pastor Mark Spitsbergen