I don’t know about you, but with the world situation what it currently is, and with it going where it seems to be going, it is hard to sit down and listen and read and watch the news these days, isn’t it? At times it seems that everything around you is collapsing. Apart from the world news, other things around us seem very fragile. Endeavors you invested in may fail. People to whom you minister may disappoint you. The business or career you worked hard to build may crumble. The health you have spent so much of your life perfecting and protecting may fail, just when you are ready to live – really live! These times, as difficult as they are, are opportunities to stop and examine what is truly important to you.
And, I must admit, it is sometimes difficult to take my own advice! Last week, I challenged each of us (myself included) to see that God is always in control, even when the world around us seems to be in a self-destruct mode.
Today, I want to introduce you to a prophet you may not have ever read. Tucked away in the pages of the back part of your Old Testament is the short (three chapters!) prophecy called “Habakkuk.” Now it does not really matter how you pronounce his name. The important thing is that you read what he wrote!
Habakkuk was a prophet with a heart. He loved his country, and he hated to see it collapse right before his eyes. He watched as the nation’s leaders, for all to see, made one bad decision right after another.
Habakkuk witnessed the collapse of most of what mattered to him. At one point he even got very upset with God – and he tried very diligently to be faithful to the work to which God had called him.
Yet through the loss, failure, and disappointment, he was able to distinguish between what was precious to him and what was transitory and empty. He came to the point where he could sincerely say that even if everything around him failed, he still would rejoice in God. Listen to his words:
“Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; 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.” – Habakkuk 3:17–18
Habakkuk was simply saying that no matter what happened — if the fig tree bore no fruit; if the vine produced no grapes; if the flocks and herds stopped reproducing; he would still praise God. His praise might not come easily, as he watched everything fall short of his expectations, but he would praise God nonetheless. He could not “fix” the world situation as he watched his beloved nation collapse around him. Habakkuk could not make fig trees produce figs. He could not control the productivity of the flocks and herds, but he could control his own response to God. He chose to praise the Lord.
Let me ask you that very simple question: Do things seem to be falling apart around you? You can still praise God. Make a list of all the things you can praise God for: Your life, your breath, the clothes on your body, the roof over your head, the food you can eat if you so choose, and the friends you have around you. I know it may sound simplistic – and very elementary, but it also will be a God-sent victory, if you will do it. For, you see, all that you have is a gift from God Himself.
Your praise for Him does not depend on the success of your endeavors, or the success of the world around us. It does not and should not depend upon what happens halfway around the world but on God’s nature and His love and faithfulness to you. Ask God to help you look past worldly concerns to understand all the many reasons you have to praise Him.
God bless…
Chuck Tabor is a regular columnist for this newspaper and a former pastor in the area. He may be reached at [email protected].
