Today's Bible Reading: HABAKKUK 1:1-3:19,
ZEPHANIAH 1:1-2:7
Habakkuk 3:17-19
Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.
Sometimes there are situations that happen in our lives that cause us to wonder about the Lord’s character and conduct in our crisis. We see what has taken place and conclude that God either doesn’t see it or He doesn’t care about it. Our faith is shaken and we are uncertain whether or not we can sustain it. We can’t seem to wrap ourselves around what is occurring and why God would allow it to occur. We begin to question the Lord’s compassion, kindness and goodness toward us. Hope seems to fade away as help seems to slip away.
But for those who are faithful, this is not the end of faith, but the beginning of it. For believers, faith is activated when it finds frustration. Faith that is agitated is not arrested, but activated. Faith kicks in when we feel like we have been kicked around. Faith lives for a fight. It doesn’t back down when backed into a corner.
Our text tells of several devastating scenarios that had inflicted the people of God. The people at that time were for the most part an agrarian society. Their livelihood was off the land. So, when there was a failure on the farm their faith could soon follow. Verse 17 outlines their dilemma when it states, “. . . the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls.” This was not just a minor struggle, but a major setback. When the fruit and the flock failed so did their finances. Everything that they could rely on would be removed. They would be decimated and divested. All hope would appear to be gone, but that was not the way of the righteous.
You see the first word in our text is “though”. Though these things might befall a believer, their belief may be shaken, but it would not be squelched. It was not in their situation, but in their sovereign where their hope lay. He was their source of help when hard times hit. It was to Him that they turn when trouble came. Though these things may happen, their heart would be stayed upon Him.
Verses 18 and 19 give us their response when it states, “yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” Their hope is in Him and their help comes from Him. They are “yet believers”. Though these things may happen to them, “yet” they will rejoice and take joy in their Lord who controls even their calamities. Their joy is not contingent on their situation, but in their Savior. Their trust is in Him. He has saved them before and He will save them again.
“Yet” believers don’t let circumstances crush their faith. Their faith is unquenchable because they can say with the prophet, “GOD, the Lord, is my strength”. Their dynamic faith is not derailed when disaster strikes. They hold that their Lord will make their feet like that of a deer to enable them to rise above their dilemma and despair.
This is the same in your most difficult dilemmas. You can say with the prophet, “though . . . Yet I will”. No matter what you face you can be a “yet” believer. Let your faith be determined by who you put your faith in. Put your trust in Lord who is your strength in any situation.
Today determine to be a “yet” believer. Commit that no matter what comes your way, that you will “rejoice in the LORD; and “take joy in the God of your salvation.” Be a “yet” believer.
On a personal note, these verses were some of the most significant verses to me when I first became a believer in college. They were so impactful in my life that I wrote a song that I sang to myself and others practically every day. I hope that they have that same kind of impact in your life as well. Memorize these verses and meditate on them daily.
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