The Joy Of Abiding In God

‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬-‭19

“I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.”

‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬-‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

What a passage. What a statement of faith here at the end of the book of Habakkuk. Just get the imagery, just phrase after phrase after phrase saying: “Things are barren. Things feel hopeless, things are dry. The fig tree is not blossoming. There’s no fruit on the vines. The olive produce is totally failing. The fields are yielding no food. The flock is totally cut off from the fold, and there’s no herd in the stalls. Everything is empty”.

You ever feel like this? Nothing is working out like it’s supposed to. You ever feel dry, barren, despairing, depressed? I don’t mean to make us depressed, but that’s the picture here.

These verses illustrate such a profound truth. You see this list of all of these things that are not going as desired. 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.

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. The prophet states I will rejoice. I will take joy. Why? Because he has the Lord. He has the God of his 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.

Our faith and hope are really nothing if it cannot stand up under the pressure of our current situation, with all its dangers and fears and confusion. Tragedy is hard to understand, hard to explain, and hard on our faith.  

Some people lay the blame at the feet of God and become bitter and cynical toward Him. They may ask for an explanation, but get silence.  They ask for understanding, and are baffled. It takes faith, a deep, robust faith to trust God when unexplained tragedies are happening.

Whatever it is you’ve got going on right now, if you will trust in Him, He won’t leave you alone in it. The path though may yet be hard, and you are welcome to tell Him all about it in the strongest terms you need to use, but if you’ll trust Him, He will lead you through it to the abundance the life waiting for you on the other side!!!

Father thank You for this day and for the amazing grace that we did not deserve. Lord open storehouses of heaven and rain down blessings upon my friend and family today. Lord Even through our toughest times, You carry us through and planted our feet on solid ground. Lord there are times, even though we hate to admit it, when we didn't put our whole trust and hope in You, yet You still made a way out of no way for us. Lord for that, we are truly sorry. Lord use my friend to be the touch of Your love to all today.

Father, we love You. Amen !