Faith is responding to God’s Word, submitting to what God initiates. It isn’t a blind leap into the dark. It isn’t believing in spite of a lack of evidence. No, faith is confidence in God that shows up in a willingness to listen and a readiness to obey. It is obeying God no matter the consequences; it is acting upon God’s truth as He has revealed it in His Word. Faith is no better than its object. Faith is the conviction that something is actually so in spite of evidence that sometimes screams to the contrary. It is the assurance that something is true even when it cannot be physically perceived.
Habakkuk doesn’t know the details of the future, but he is going to trust God. He places his faith in God’s Word and in God’s holy character. He will trust the Lord to do what is right, to work out His purposes while keeping His promises. And what we find here in chapter 2 is what I’m calling the ‘forward look’ of faith.