Hab 3: 17 - 19

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.

Who Is He?

Faith in the Midst of Destruction A Picture of Gaza

Faith in the Midst of Violence Refugees of Syria

Faith in the Midst of Persecution Iraq

The Righteous Shall Live By Faith

Hab 2: 4

ה׃ אמונתו יחי יק ב וצד

Talmud (Makkot 24a,b)

613 precepts were communicated to Moses. Came David and reduced them to 11 (Ps. 15). Isaiah came and reduced them to 6 principles (Is.33:15-16). Micah reduced them to three: It has been told to thee O man what is good and what the Lord requires of thee; only to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly before the Lord (Micah 6:8). But it is Habakkuk who came and based them all on one principle: the righteous shall live by their faith

The New Testament

Rom 1: 17

Gal 3: 11

Heb 10: 38

Martin Luther

"At last meditating day and night, by the mercy of God, I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that through which the righteous live by a gift of God, namely by faith. Here I felt as if I were entirely born again and had entered paradise itself through the gates that had been flung open."

The Righteous and the Wicked

How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

The Righteous

• Political Challenges

• Ethical Challenges

• Theological Challenges

Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that thou mayest

believe, but believe that thou mayest understand (Augustine)

Martin Luther God our Father has made all things depend on faith so

that whoever has faith will have everything, and whoever does not have faith will have nothing.

Living in the midst of death

Faith in ??? A man fell off a cliff, but managed to grab

a tree limb on the way down.

"Is anyone up there?" "I am here. I am the Lord.

Do you believe me?" "Yes, Lord, I believe. I

really believe, but I can't hang on much longer." "That's all right, if you really believe you have

nothing to worry about. I will save you. Just let go of

the branch." A moment of pause, then:

Faith in ??? A man fell off a cliff, but managed to grab

a tree limb on the way down.

"Is anyone else up there?"

Faith in ???

• A Just God (1: 13)

• A Speaking God (2: 20)

• A Merciful God (3: 2) Not a Prophet-Selah (3:3??)

• An Eternal God (1: 12)

Faith in a Just God Hab 1: 13 --- Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;

you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

Faith in a Speaking God

Hab 2: 20- - - But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.

Faith in a Merciful God among Muslim Interpreters

God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. Selah (Hab 3: 3)

LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy (Hab 3: 2)

Faith in an Eternal God Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my

Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them as a judgment; and thou, O Rock, hast

established them for chastisement. (Hab 1:12)