“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither [shall] fruit
[be] in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall
yield no meat; the flock 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. The LORD God [is] my strength, and he will make my feet
like hinds’ [feet], and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the
chief singer on my stringed instruments.”
(Hab 3:17-19 AV)
Whatever
the circumstances of life, we should strive to rejoice in the LORD, specially
for salvation. The prophet knows the
LORD will visit Israel and Judah for their transgressions. He knows the LORD will make barren the land. He knows that he personally did not
contribute to the disobedience yet will suffer with it because of association. He knows harder times are coming. But one thing never changes. That is, God is His God of salvation. He will keep him through it. The LORD will give him a song in his heart no
matter how dire the situation around him.
This is what separates the spiritual from the carnal!
I
have to brag on my Mom a bit, here. She
has diabetes and has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She had it beat for a bit, but now it has
come back and is beginning to spread to other parts of her body. They are going to put her on a new and
stronger treatment program. One that
will cause her to lose her hair. I made
a funny by telling her she can start wearing wigs like the ladies do where I
live. Her response brought bouts of laughter. She recalled the day when she did wear a
wig. I remember seeing it sitting on her
dresser. This period didn’t last very
long. She was always afraid it would fly
off if she bent over, sneezed, or a gust of wind blew up. She was so paranoid it
would fall off, she hardly ever wore it.
Then she told me of an embarrassing event in her teen life and it taught
her never to stress about a thing. So,
she will proudly wear her bald head with a scarf on occasion, but what she said
next spoke volumes. She said, “all the
trials of life will seem but a distant memory in light of eternity!” What a lady!
My mother knows how to laugh and rejoice in the face of adversity! A lesson we could all learn.
Which
brings us back to our passage. No matter
how difficult life might be, if we have trusted Christ, then we are saved and
heaven bound. Nothing can change
that! Let us rejoice in the God of our
salvation and rely upon Him as our strength, and the trouble we are faced with
may not seem so bad.
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