“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 Saviour.” Habakkuk 3:17-18
Can you remember a time when nothing was going right for you? (Perhaps that’s what you’re facing right now.) In times like this is easy to wallow in self-pity, get frustrated at the world, feel depressed, and wonder where God is in all of it. That’s when we need to have a solid foundation in the Lord, and be reminded of verses like this one.
When we look at things from God’s perspective, our attitude will change. Think about this: we can rejoice even if God does nothing else for us – He has saved us. In the light of eternity, this life is a blip. Paul wrote, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:17). His ‘light and momentary troubles’ included being whipped, stoned, imprisoned, beaten, and shipwrecked (2 Cor. 11:23-25).
I’m not meaning to put down bad things that happen in people’s lives. Being afflicted by some horrific injury or disease, losing your job, having your family fall apart, having your house burnt to the ground are not trivial things. Take Horatio Spafford for instance: in a few short years, his 4-year old son died, his business was burned to the ground, his four daughters were drowned in a shipwreck. Yet out of these experiences, Spafford wrote a hymn that will be familiar to most of us:
When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
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