Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4

Have you ever known anyone whose soul doesn’t stand up straight within him/her? How about you? Has your soul ever not stood up straight? What about right now? Is your soul upright within you or is it leaning over a little bit?

Your soul is like a gyroscope within you. If it is upright, it spins correctly and provides a strong centering for all you do. But if it leans at all, it throws everything off and you become a wobbly person because your soul is not centered on God.

But … and that’s the operative word here … the righteous shall live by faith.

This is an incredible statement to find in the Old Testament because it is a statement of new covenant truth. It was quoted three times in the New Testament because it is so central to God’s plan for the ages. And the fact that it exists in the Old Testament is an indication that the old and new covenants do not stay locked within their time frame, i.e. the old covenant only exists in the Old Testament and the new covenant only works in the new. Instead, they are two different ways of approaching God and what He expects of us that have both been operating from the beginning of time and will continue to the end. In the first, we find out how helpless we are against the temptations of sin, and in the second, we discover that being considered as righteous comes only through faith in Jesus Christ. 

Notice that the antidote to a soul that is not upright is not to somehow get your soul the stand up and fly right. He doesn’t say, “Do something about that soul of yours because it will only cause you to fail.” Instead, the antidote to a wobbly soul is faith. The just (or righteous) shall be just (or righteous) by faith. You don’t work your way out of a crooked soul, you throw yourself and your crooked soul at the feet of Jesus,  believe Him by faith, and He works a miracle within you. The old covenant leads to the new by way of failure. That’s the only way to get to the new covenant — through the failure of the old one to do anything to make you righteous.

The fact that “The just shall live by faith” has been around since Habakkuk and repeated three times in the New Testament by Paul is very significant. That means it’s a pretty big deal in the Bible, but it stayed, nonetheless, pretty much dormant for 1,500 years up until Martin Luther brought it forth as a big deal and the major cause of the Reformation. In spite of this, however, “The just shall live by faith,” has always had a way of getting buried in the requirements and self-righteous activity of the law. We keep falling back on the old covenant. The old covenant is our default setting.

Fortunately, each new movement of the Spirit brings a fresh experience of the new covenant as people rediscover the reality of the Holy Spirit. The Great Awakening, the Wesley revivals, Billy Sunday, and in our lifetime, the Jesus Movement, each brought to the forefront the work of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit always overcomes the works of the law. The Jesus Movement was not about people getting themselves right with God by works; it was about sinners getting saved and experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit to transform their lives and help them to walk by faith.

So what happened?

Has any of this changed? Is the Holy Spirit not as active today? Is the new covenant no longer a game-changer in our lives? Are we such good Christians that we have outgrown our need for forgiveness? No, no, no, and no. We have just been lulled to sleep. And what’s happened to our souls? Are they upright within us? If they aren’t, then we are failing, and we need to admit that, and turn our failure into faith. This pattern is not a one time thing; it is a way of life.

From failure to faith; failure to faith. “He whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by faith.” There is no other way. The faith of the Jesus Movement is the same today. Faith straightens your soul.

Introducing our new podcast, Between the Answers 

“Between the Answers” podcast will look back to the pioneers of a historical phenomenon: the Jesus Movement, examine why it transformed into a broader social and political force over time, and ask questions about the Movement’s original message and its transformative power today. Our premise lies in the questions we need to ask between the answers.

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