Living By Faith

On Sunday morning, Les taught the Adult Sunday school class.  We are currently studying the minor prophets of the Old Testament.  They are considered "minor" prophets because of the length of their writings, not because of what they had to say!

This lesson came from the book of Habakkuk.  When Les mentioned that to me on Saturday, I said, "I can't think of a single verse from that book!"  A little while later he said, "You know at least one..."  Chapter two, verse four says, "but the just shall live by his faith."

The first chapter of Habakkuk starts with Habakkuk questioning "O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear!  even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!"  Habakkuk looks around and sees his nation in a terrible state.  He sees iniquity and violence and wonders why God doesn't do anything about it. 

We read a similar concern in Psalm 73.  "But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.  For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked."  Anyone who has lived for God for a while has faced this dilemma.  God, why are evil people prospering, while I struggle?  Is it even worth it?

We can become discouraged in this life if we only look at the here and now.  God's timing is not ours.  His mercy extends far beyond what we think others deserve.  But the end of the story is always blessings on the just who live by faith.  Faith that says, "Hold on, God is true, even when you can't see."

I've been thinking about this quite a bit this week.  I know I'm not the only one to struggle with this.  Jesus knew that as well.  In Luke chapter 15 we read the story of the prodigal son.  Near the end of the chapter is an exchange between the father and the older son.  He is upset because his prodigal brother has come home and there is great rejoicing and feasting.  He feels neglected in spite of his faithfulness.

I usually think of the older son as having a really bad attitude, but in light of Habakkuk and Psalm 73, I think he was pretty normal.  When you live a life of consistency, you may not get a lot of attention, you may feel overlooked like the older son.  But the Father reminded him, "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine."

It is right to rejoice when a prodigal comes home.  There is great rejoicing in heaven.  But don't be tempted to throw in the towel or try that path yourself.  There was much pain in the life of the prodigal  because of his choices.  As Bro. McGriffin said a couple weeks ago, "Good decisions don't make headlines but for every bad decision there is a story."

Just this week Les and I have been the recipients of blessings because of faithfulness to companies.  We always fly Hawaiian Airlines from Los Angeles to Honolulu.  I always check other airlines, but the price is usually about the same so we keep flying Hawaiian.  When I checked in for our flight this week, I noticed our status was now "Gold."  Since January we have flown over 20,000 miles! With Gold status comes a whole list of benefits - 2 free checked bags each, early boarding, and much more.  We were able to change our seats on Tuesday from row 42 to row 12!  It was nice to be some of the first on and off the plane just because of our loyalty.

Yesterday we met for lunch at Subway.  There are several Subway restaurants close to us, but we always go to the one on Kapiolani and Atkinson.  The last couple of times we've gone, they have added cookies to our meals.  The sweet lady at the register just smiled at me yesterday as she added them to our bag.  Just because we are loyal to their little sandwich shop.

Don't think your faithfulness and loyalty is being overlooked.  You may not receive accolades on a daily basis, but God is a great record keeper.  If God puts our tears in a bottle, He surely keeps track of our daily faithfulness!