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From Splendor to Shadow

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Faith Will Sustain God's People Today

The faith that strengthened Habakkuk in those days of trial was the same faith that sustains God's people today. Under circumstances the most forbidding, the believer may keep his soul stayed on the Source of all light and power. Through faith in God, his courage may be renewed. “The just shall live by his faith.” The Lord will more than fulfill the highest expectations of those who put their trust in Him. He will give the wisdom their necessities demand. SS 203.2

We must cultivate the faith that lays hold on the promises of God and waits for deliverance in His appointed time and way. The sure word of prophecy will meet its final fulfillment in the glorious advent of our Saviour as King of kings and Lord of lords. The time of waiting may seem long, many in whom confidence has been placed may fall by the way; but with the prophet who endeavored to encourage Judah in a time of apostasy, let us declare, “The Lord is in His holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before Him.” Verse 20. SS 203.3

Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years,
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.
Habakkuk 3:2

Though the fig tree do not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines,
The produce of the olive fail
And the fields yield no food,
The flock be cut off from the fold
And there be no herd in the stalls,
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength.
Habakkuk 3:17-19, RSV

Habakkuk was not the only one through whom was given a message of hope and of future triumph as well as of present judgment. During the reign of Josiah the word of the Lord came to Zephaniah, specifying the results of continued apostasy and calling attention to the glorious prospect beyond. His prophecies of judgment on Judah apply with equal force to the judgments to fall on an impenitent world at the second advent of Christ: SS 204.1

The great day of the Lord is near,
It is near, and hasteth greatly,
Even the voice of the day of the Lord:
The mighty man shall cry there bitterly.

That day is a day of wrath,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of wasteness and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloominess.

A day of clouds and thick darkness,
A day of the trumpet and alarm
Against the fenced cities,
And against the high towers.
Zephaniah 1:14-16

“Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath. In the fire of His jealous wrath, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full, yea, sudden end He will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.” Verse 18, RSV. SS 204.2

Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth,
Which have wrought His judgment;
Seek righteousness,
Seek meekness:
It may be ye shall be hid
In the day of the Lord's anger.
Zephaniah 2:3

In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem,
Fear thou not:
And to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.
The Lord thy God in the midst of thee
Is mighty; He will save,
He will rejoice over thee with joy;
He will rest in His love,
He will joy over thee with singing.
Zephaniah 3:16, 17