Joy In the Midst of Defeat

“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)

One wonders if he could do as the prophet says he will do.  If reduced to absolutely nothing with no improvement in the foreseeable future, can we still rejoice in the LORD?  Can we still joy in the God of our salvation?  What makes this statement even more potent is the future tense of the coming disasters.  Habakkuk promised to rejoice in the God of His salvation even though he knew what he would have to face.  No crops, no fruit from his labor, no cattle, no provision.  There would be absolute desolation because the people of God broke their covenant with God.  The prophet decides before he even realizes the future that he will rejoice in the God of his salvation.

This reminds me of my saintly mother.  She has this sense of humor that was passed down to her children.  A way of looking at the tragedies of life with a grin.  She had a way of looking at life that got her through the hardest of times.  It was the balance we all desperately needed as, by nature, we inherited my father’s pessimism.  My mother came down with type II diabetes several decades ago, but then she suffered a double whammy.  She came down with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.  This would eventually take her life this past March.  Yet, my mother always kept a positive attitude.  I remember speaking with her over the phone about countless tests coming up.  A poke here.  A prod there.  One medication trial after another.  One time, I had the privilege of sitting with her as she was infused with her chemo treatment.  What a blessing it was!  She didn’t sit there in self-pity.  She didn’t complain at all.  She knew what the future held for her, but she decided to rejoice.  She made the choice to look at life as a blessing rather than a curse and she decided the greatest prize of all could never be lost: her relationship with the LORD.

Sometimes we get life a little skewed.  We get our eyes on the things of this life and forget that our relationship with the God of our salvation can never be lost.  As bad as life can get, it is always good as long as the LORD is right there with us.  If we could only learn to live this way every moment of every day no matter what life might bring.