The Just Shall Live by Faith: Assurance for Biblical Counselors and Counselees Facing Difficult Cases
“The just shall live by faith.”
—Romans 1:17b (cf. Habakkuk 2:4b)
This short phrase, echoed through both Old and New Testaments, carries a weight of glory that anchors both the biblical counselor and the counselee—especially in the trenches of suffering, injustice, and seemingly unresolvable pain. In the thick of difficult counseling cases—whether it’s a marriage collapsing under years of sin, a trauma survivor grappling with nightmares, or a person crushed under injustice that the world seems to ignore—this promise from God breathes hope.
The Counselor’s Challenge: Trusting Through Complexity
Biblical counselors often find themselves sitting across from broken people with stories that have no human fix. The complexity can feel overwhelming. How do you walk with someone who’s been gaslit for decades? What do you say to the woman who longs for justice but sees her abuser thriving? How do you encourage the husband clinging to God when everything in his life is falling apart?
The answer is not in knowing the outcome—it’s in knowing the One who holds the outcome.
Paul, quoting Habakkuk, writes, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17). The original context in Habakkuk is filled with the prophet’s cry: “How long, O Lord, will injustice go unanswered?” God’s answer is not a full explanation—but a call to faith. “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).
This is our anchor as counselors: we do not minister by sight, results, or expertise alone—but by faith. Faith in the God who sees what we cannot. Faith in the Spirit who works in hearts in ways we may never witness. Faith in the Savior who was wounded for the very pain we’re witnessing.
When the cases are hard and the victories are unseen, we counsel by faith—not in ourselves, but in the Word of God that never returns void (Isaiah 55:11).
The Counselee’s Struggle: Trusting When Justice Seems Delayed
Counselees often sit in deep confusion. “Why did God let this happen?” “Why does the wicked prosper?” “Where is justice?” These are not new questions—these are the very questions Habakkuk asked. And God’s answer still echoes: “The just shall live by faith.”
This is not a call to blind optimism or passive endurance. It is a call to active trust in the justice, wisdom, and timing of God. In Habakkuk’s day, the Babylonians were rising in power—wicked, violent, unjust. Yet God told His people to wait. “For still the vision awaits its appointed time… If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay” (Habakkuk 2:3).
To the counselee, this means: God’s justice is never asleep. His judgment is never slack. His timing may confound us, but His righteousness will not fail. The cross of Christ proves this—where God’s justice and mercy collided perfectly. And the resurrection proves that God vindicates the righteous, even after death.
So to the suffering believer, God says: “You are not forgotten. You are not unseen. Walk by faith. Trust My character. Rest in My promises. Justice will come—if not now, then eternally.”
The Invitation: Living by Faith Together
As biblical counselors and counselees, we are fellow pilgrims—called to walk not by sight, but by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7). We cling not to the illusion of control, but to the cross of Christ and the Word of God. Whether we see change in a moment or wait a lifetime, we rest in the truth: the righteous live by faith. And that faith is not in our outcomes, but in our God.
Let this truth calm the storm of doubt, lift the head bowed in despair, and ignite hope in the middle of injustice:
“The just shall live by faith.”
And God is always faithful.
NOTE: This reflection was brought on by my daily devotional time and currently I am including The Power of The Gospel - A Year in Romans by R.C. Sproul. Which is surprisingly only $9.99 on Amazon Kindle