“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.” (Hab 3:17-18 AV)
Verse eighteen has been in my devotional work before. Without looking back, I am sure today will be the same application. Habakkuk’s vow is that regardless of how dire the situation will become in Judah, he will still rejoice in the LORD his God. Habakkuk preached to Judah at the eve of their downfall. He saw a hypothetical. He saw a land barren of all produce. He saw the worst-case scenario. When Judah was carried away, the vines still produced. The olive will still grow olives although there will be no one there to tend to them. The flocks will be carried away to Babylon. The dearth that will come upon Judah will not affect the prophets as dramatically as it will affect the people. From Isaiah to Jeremiah to Habakkuk, Babylon allowed the prophets of God to continue their ministry. It made sense. They would preach submission to Babylon. They would preach repentance to Judah and Israel. This could only help Babylon. Habakkuk could rejoice and joy in the God of his salvation even when things changed for the worse because God was his help and strength.
No one likes change. Especially if it is dramatic and life-altering. No one likes to suffer more than they have to suffer. How we respond tells a lot of what we are made of. When hardships come, how do we react? Most of us get discouraged, complain, or even become depressed. We don’t like what is happening. Joy is not our initial response. The reason? We didn’t plan on rejoicing, even though we knew what was coming. If you look closely at the tense of Habakkuk’s prophecy, it is future tense. The dearth of which he speaks is in the future. At the moment, life is tolerable. Life is survivable. Looking at the inevitable, Habakkuk decides he will respond in joy when the time comes. This makes all the difference in the world. Most of us have to work up to it. We have to adjust to the situation as it comes. We have to have a few answers and some plan to navigate through our troubles before we can rejoice. Not the prophet. He has already determined he will rejoice as he sees the dark clouds rise. Joy is a choice. Not necessary a reaction.
Admittedly, the near-impossible challenge is to covet with God that regardless of circumstances, joy will rule the heart. That is a hard place to mature into. Circumstances and experience will teach the saint that God knows what He is doing, and He is always good. We also learn that regardless of how hopeless it may seem at the moment; God is more than capable of bringing us through it. We also realize God has a perfect plan in all of it, and the lessons we learn are priceless. I have to admit, like most, I struggle with this. We are too apt to react to circumstances as they come rather than determine how we will react before circumstances happen. Habakkuk shows us the way. We cannot wait until circumstances to our liking bring joy. We have to determine to rejoice regardless of what might be happening or what is likely to happen. This is the only way to live. Otherwise, we become a ping-pong ball on the table of emotions.
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