S167P4 – Sources of joy: his grace

Hab. 3:17-19

Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls— yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.

This book opens with Habakkuk wondering if God can hear him.  This prophet lived through a time of great turmoil among his people.  The Lord’s judgment was all around him.  He saw violence.  He saw injustice.  He saw conflict among his brethren.  Habakkuk’s experiences led him to cry out to God for an explanation, but the response would not be an easy one to hear.  The Lord planned to raise up an enemy army to come against Judah, indicating that more judgment and conflict was to come before any sign of deliverance.  That is the point at which this prayer is offered up by the prophet.  Though the current moment be dark and bleak, his joy rested on the promise of salvation to come.

This part of Habakkuk’s prayer speaks of desolation and emptiness.  We must remember the time in which this all occurs.  When the prophet speaks of losing herds of animals, that matters because these people depended on those animals for their survival.  The lack of fruit on the trees or crops in the fields has the same implication.  It would be like someone in our position today forseeing the grocery store shelves bare, the power blacked out and the fuel stations dry.  In a time when one would seem to have every reason to be without joy, there is still a reason to rejoice.  Regardless of what we do or do not have right now, we have the hope of salvation to come, and that is sufficient.

To find joy in the God of our salvation is to find joy in his grace.  It is his grace which would allow anyone from the adulteress and idolatrous Judah to be redeemed and survive the time of judgment.  That same grace takes us through our own difficult times which can seem like one bad conflict or experience after another but which are there to strengthen and refine us.  In those times, we can rest assured that we will be redeemed.  God will see us on the other side as is his purpose, and there will be our joy.  When it appears that we have no reason to be joyful, we always can rejoice in the God of our salvation.  Father, help us to  have the attitude of Habakkuk, to be joyful now in the hope of our redemption to come.