Has there ever been a time in your life when you just thought God was running a bit late? Today, we are back into the struggle with God and Habakkuk. Habakkuk cried out to God, and God responded. Then Habakkuk didn’t like the answer and cried out again. Today, God wants Habakkuk to write down what he is about to say. God’s Warnings For Nations Habakkuk 2:2-3 1. God Is Never Late  The final solution to Habakkuk’s dilemma would come only in the future, at God’s “appointed time.”  Though the time was well in the future (539 B.C., about 66 years after Habakkuk’s prophecy), Babylon would suffer its punishment.  There will come a time when all evil in the world will be put to an end—annihilated. God’s faithful people must “wait for it,” even though it may take a long time. In the last days, Christ will take his church from the earth and execute his judgment on the world.  The time will come when Christ will return to earth to destroy all evil and establish a kingdom of truth, justice, and righteousness that will close out history and usher in God’s eternal kingdom. We want to see justice now; we want our enemies to be swallowed up, but God is telling us to wait for my timing. We want others to have the full hand of God’s judgment when they make a mistake, but when we make a mistake, we want the fullness of God’s Grace. I don’t know what you are facing now, but know that God will not be late Habakkuk 2:4  2. Righteousness Is Fueled By Faith In light of God’s revelation about how (and when) he works, his people must be patient and live by faith.  It is “the righteous”—those who entrust their lives to God and do what is right according to his standards—who will succeed in the end.  The righteous are contrasted with the proud and the ungodly, whose life choices and direction oppose God. The hearts of the righteous are devoted to God; they want to be his children, to have close fellowship with him, and to obey his plans and desires.  The righteous must rely on God to accomplish his purposes for them in this world. This “faith” implies an active and lasting trust in God. It is evidence of a personal loyalty to him as Savior and Lord and a moral commitment to follow his plans.  This phrase, “the righteous will live by his faith,” or a form of it, is used throughout the NT to support the teaching that people are saved by grace through faith in Christ. If we want to be in the right relationship with God, it is fueled by our faith in him. Faith is not knowing everything. God wants us to trust in him. He doesn’t want us to lean on our understanding. He is calling on us to lean on HIS understanding. Habakkuk 2:5 3. Greed Will Swallow You Up The answer is waiting for his timing to accomplish his purposes. Such waiting calls for faithfulness in having faith. God says that the violence and oppression of the nations create this never-ending cycle of revenge and that God will use this cycle to bring about the rise and fall of nations And the fact that God might for a time use a corrupt nation, like Babylon, does not mean that he endorses everything that they do. He holds all nations accountable for his justice, so Babylon will fall along with any other nation that acts like them.  Collecting more than they need will get Babylon, but isn’t this us today? We love to collect stuff and buy more things. We like to tell God what he can do with our money. God calls us to be generous and to live within our means. Many of us are going into debt to impress people we do not even like and failing to pay God his portion. How do you think that will work out for you? What are our transformational moments? Do you need to trust that God is never late this morning? Do you need God to strengthen your faith today? Is stuff your God, or is God getting his portion?