“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flocks shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” (Habakkuk 3:17-18 KJV).
Habakkuk, a Prophet in Judah near the end of the 7th Century BC, was overwhelmed by the wickedness in his nation. Corruption and sin was rampant everywhere. He was one of many prophets that the Lord has sent to call the nation to repentance, but they had refused to listen. Now the Lord had let him know that judgment would soon come upon the nation of Judah because of her sin and her unwillingness to return to the Lord.
The Lord had revealed to Habakkuk that some hard and difficult times would come upon the nation. The impact would be devastating. Crops would fail because of drought. Herds would be decimated because of the lack of food. Hunger and deprivation would be common place all throughout the land. And on top of that, the Lord would deliver Judah into the hand of her enemies, the Babylonians, and they would be carried off into captivity. To Habakkuk, this made no sense to him. Why?
Because the Babylonians were more wicked than the nation of Judah!
Habakkuk was faced with a choice. Would he trust God, even when he did not understand? That is a situation that each of us will face at one time or another as the people of God. There will be times, when nothing around us makes any sense at all! In spite of our prayers, our loved one is not healed. In spite of our faithfulness, we still experience the loss of a job or a business, or even our health. In spite of standing and confessing the Truth of His Word, the situation does not change. And all the while, the enemy is at the gate of our mind, taunting us and telling us that it is useless to keep trusting God.
Habakkuk helps us to understand what to do in those situations! We can choose to trust God, even when nothing makes sense! We can choose to trust Him no matter what we may be going on at the moment. We can choose to trust Him with whatever may come in the future. Why? Because the Sovereign Lord, is on the Throne! He knows the beginning and the end of all things! And no matter what we may being going through, if we will cling to Him and trust Him, the Lord will eventually bring us out of where we are to the place where He wants us to be! We can trust Him because He is faithful! He will not abandon us no matter where we are or what we are going through! We can choose to be like Habakkuk, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Yes, we can still trust God, even when nothing makes sense!
Rev. James Black
