One of the distinctive things about the Christian
faith is that in it (and in it alone), we have the God Whom we worship actually
speaking to His children. Now think on
that for a moment! Unlike every other
God, our God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the speaking
God. Do you hear Him? What is He saying to you? Have you heard Him speaking to your heart as
you read the Scriptures? When you sat in
church listening to a sermon, have you heard God speak to you personally? Our God is the speaking God.
To sit and listen to the Lord talking right into
our hearts is as strange as it is astonishing.
It’s not strange that God speaks, but it is somewhat strange that He
should speak to the likes of us. Yes, He
speaks! And every time He speaks to us,
He accomplishes something significant in us – He either softens our hearts to
love Him more – and that’s what we want; or, He hardens our hearts so that when
we read His Word, we do not hear Him speaking to us – and that’s what we do not
want! It all depends upon our attitude
when we approach Him in the Scriptures.
In
His providence, He brought my mind to Habakkuk 3:17-18, and through these
verses, He spoke to me. ”Though the fig tree
shall not flourish, neither shall fruit be
in the vines: the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no
meat: the sheep shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no bullock
in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the
Lord: I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
The prophet had to learn the
lesson that despite our circumstances, even if we lose everything, we can still
rejoice in the Lord. Even if all things go against us, we can still rejoice in Him. We also need to
learn that same lesson. Yet, it’s a
lesson we do not want to learn. We are
so desirous of our possessions and the things (and people) we hold dear that we
want them more than we want the LORD. Totally
understandable, of course. We do not
even want to dare the Lord to take everything from us, in case He might take us
at our word and grant us just that! Yet
once we learn this valuable lesson, we will be truly liberated, and enabled to
rise above our circumstances, for that’s where Jesus actually is. And we will “joy in the God of [my]
salvation.”
The KJV brings this out
beautifully when it translates the first word as “Although” and the beginning
of v.18 with “Yet.” This highlights the
“although” and the “yet” of Christian faith.
“Although” for one reason or another, we are currently going through
tough times, “yet” we will rejoice in the Lord... We must refuse to allow the ‘although’ of
adversities to quench our faith or extinguish our living hope in Christ.
How wonderful are these words.
If nothing in life flourishes and no fruit comes of our labours; and although
the animals fail to produce, this is not the end of the world for us. If we lose all that’s precious to us, our
relationship with our precious Saviour is not one whit diminished. If the worst happens, “yet” will I “rejoice
in the Lord; I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
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