I got a week behind, so I’m playing catch-up. I still haven’t mastered the ability to write when I don’t feel like I have anything to say. Here’s to post 11 of 2019. I’ve always loved the prophets – their prose is beautiful and sad and hopeful all at the same time.
“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.”
Habakkuk 3:17-19
Life was about to get much worse for Habakkuk’s people, the nation of Israel. Chaldean forces would arrive, raze Jerusalem, and take its people captive to a foreign land. Raping, pillaging, enslaving. Habakkuk’s people would be forced to leave their homes, and live where they didn’t want to live. They would be forced to endure what they didn’t want to endure.
Scholars say Habakkuk was a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah, who also warned the Jews of God’s coming judgment for their sin.
Life gets hard and we get discouraged. We pray and things don’t get better. We beg and God is silent.
Our needs are great, and we cry out to our Father to provide and he seems to ignore our pleadings. We plod through our days with our hearts downtrodden and bruised. We want rest and peace and restoration. We want an end to our suffering.
The Israelites were exiles in Babylon for 70 years before they were allowed to return to Jerusalem. They returned to a destroyed city whose walls were broken down and where wild animals had made their home. With enemies all around them, they set out to rebuild their walls and their city while prepared to fight for their lives.
The days and decades were terrible and difficult and painful and seemed never-ending.
And yet. The heart-cry of God’s faithful people will always be ‘even though – even though, I will rejoice…’ Even though my child is sick. Even though my house is damaged and in desperate need of repair. Even though my bank account is empty. Even though my spouse is dead.
With our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, we can be confident in knowing the ending of the story will always be a happy one.
“Hold fast to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.” Revelation 3:11 (church of Philadelphia)
Our Father is always listening. He hears and cares. Sometimes he says ‘yes’. Sometimes he says ‘no’. And sometimes he says ‘not yet.’
When your difficult days seem to go on and on without relief, remember that all we can see is our small world, but God sees it in its entirety. His plans will unfold in due time, and in the midst of your difficulty, he will send small mercies your way to encourage your heart and show you just how much he really loves you.
