Habakkuk 3:17-19
“Though the cherry trees don’t blossom and the strawberries don’t ripen, Though the apples are worm-eaten and the wheat fields stunted, Though the sheep pens are sheepless and the cattle barns empty, I’m singing joyful praise to God. I’m turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God. Counting on God’s Rule to prevail, I take heart and gain strength. I run like a deer. I feel like I’m king of the mountain! (For congregational use, with a full orchestra.)”
Habakkuk 3:17-19 MSG
And we see this reality that even in, or maybe better put, especially in times of despair and barrenness and emptiness, we can still have joy. I will rejoice. I will take joy. Why? Because I have the Lord. I have the God of my salvation and all that He is and all that He represents, a fountain of everlasting strength when we have nothing.
A fountain of all-surpassing, unexplainable peace, that nothing in this world can take away from us. A fountain of hope that flows into the darkest, most despairing days. As long as you have the Lord, as long as you have the God of your salvation, you have joy and peace and strength and hope and love, and He will never ever leave you.
A lack of fruit. The fig tree is not blossoming. There’s no fruit on the vines. No produce from the olive trees. The fields are yielding no food. The flock is cut off from the fold. There’s no herd in the stalls. This is a picture of emptiness, despair, and barrenness. And in the middle of this, Habakkuk says, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
As God's people we have, in many respects, become corrupt. We have compromised the truth of God's righteous Word by accepting unrighteous laws and false doctrines into our midsts without challenge. We have embraced many worldly ways, watered-down the truth of God's Word, and allowed false teachers and doctrines of demons to infiltrate our churches and our minds we have forgotten what it is to blush.
As a believer of Christ, we need to call out, as did Habakkuk, and pray that in His wrath the Lord would remember mercy. We should get on our faces and confess that as the Body of Christ, we have not done what we ought to have done and we have done the things that we should not have done.
And as the Body of Christ we should humble ourselves and pray, and seek God's face, turn from our wicked ways, and cry out for His mercy, "though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls. YET I will exult in the Lord, yet I will rejoice in the God of my salvation for the Lord my God is my strength."
We don't need a faith that comes and goes according to our circumstances. We need an "even if" faith, that follows God no matter what!!!
Father thank You for this day and the example of Habakkuk and for the truths that we can learn. Lord let Your abundant blessings be my friend and family’s portion today. Lord we acknowledge that, like Israel, we have gone astray and wandered far from You and have left our first love and flirted with the world. Lord forgive us, Lord purify Your Church and restore to us the joy of our salvation. Lord keep us faithfully looking to You and living by faith, for You alone are our strength and our salvation. Lord use my friend to be a bold witness of Your saving grace to all today. Be a blessing.
Father, we love You. Amen !
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