A Right Spirit

A Right Spirit

Habakkuk 2:4

“Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him but the righteous will live by his faith.”

Why does Habakkuk feel that a lesson on pride is so necessary when God is speaking to His people? Pride is directly responsible for the problems they are facing. God’s people are supposed to reject pride and seek humility. They were told by another prophet exactly what God expects of them:

Micah 6:8

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?”

Whenever God’s people lose sight of these values, He reprimands them and calls them to turn around and get right with Him again. Pride hinders that. It keeps our hearts from loving God.

Humility, on the other hand, is very important to Him. I’ve heard it put this way: God’s plan for you is humility; Plan B is humiliation.

We either learn to be humble on our own—or He teaches us.

This is what the last part of today’s verse is all about. When Habakkuk says that “the righteous will live by faith,” he means that the people of God are not to live lives full of pride or self-reliance.

God’s people are to put Him first in everything. We either learn to be humble on our own or He teaches us.

When you put God first, you become the person He created you to be. Faith transforms you from the inside out. You become a better employee, a better father or mother, a better husband or wife. Faith doesn’t make you less human—it makes you fully human.

That is what true humanism is all about: becoming the best man or woman you can be through God’s transforming work. But it begins when we set aside pride and walk humbly with Him. That’s how we live by faith.

This passage—Habakkuk 2:1–4—comes together to answer our deepest questions. These verses have helped bring the church back to God more than once throughout history.

Proverbs 11:2

“When pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom.”