No fruit on the vines – yet…

Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labour of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there 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; He will make my feet like deer's feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills. – Habakkuk 3v17-19

It is always interesting to see how people in the Bible change as God deals with them. At the start of the book Habakkuk is befuddled and confused and wondering how God can do what He is doing. God doesn’t make any sense to Habakkuk and he doesn’t mind saying so.

By the time he gets done his tone has changed. Now he acknowledged that God was worthy of His worship no matter what. He learned that his joy should not be dependent on his circumstances. He learned that the joy of the Lord was his strength.

‘Even if the crops fail and all the livestock dies off I will still rejoice in the Lord.’ How many of us could say the same thing? How many of us can find our joy of the Lord in desperate times when we can’t find a job and the kids are sick and the car breaks down and we don’t know how we are going to pay the bills?

Habakkuk’s confidence is clear. ‘I WILL rejoice in the Lord. I WILL joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God IS my strength. He WILL make my feet like deer’s feet HE WILL make me to walk on the high hills.’

When our joy is in the Lord we can walk in safety above all the rotten circumstances that we encounter. Paul put it this way writing to the Ephesian church about the mysteries of salvation – ‘and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.’

Where is our joy? Where is our hope? Where is our ability to rise above the circumstances? If it is not in the Lord we are in serious trouble.