Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:17-19 ESV).
I am always gratified when readers of the Morning Devotional respond with comments and questions. One person recently commented with a question: “How can I find peace and joy in the midst of what’s going on today?” I took that to mean that they were looking for shelter in the midst of the storm that seems so pervasive in our culture. That may even be your question as you follow the news or receive a worrisome personal update. How do we respond to bad news and reports of trouble and struggle in so many places?
Our reading today is one of the most powerful affirmations of faith in all of Scripture. Faced with news of an upcoming war, the prophet Habakkuk anticipates food shortages and hunger throughout the land. But in the face of such calamity, he declares that he will still rejoice in God his Savior. External circumstances are not going to stop him from finding personal peace and joy in the Lord. He is describing his “storm shelter.” As Christians, we can rejoice in the midst of the most challenging circumstances because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Even in the toughest of times, even the extreme of looking death in the face, we know that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
During my most recent procedure I found myself a bit overconfident. After all, I had already been through this three times in the last five years. I was an “old hand” at this sort of thing. Well, God changed all of that when I found myself in a hospital that I had not been to before, with surroundings completely unfamiliar to me, and a completely different kind of anesthesia than I had before (I was absolutely wide awake and talking to the doctor during the whole procedure). At one moment I remember thinking, “This sure feels different.” That was during the time when I felt the movement of the “wire” through my vein as it snaked its way into my heart. I also remember the truth of our reading today. By his Spirit he comforts us. He is always in full control of our lives. That joyful reality gives us sure shelter even in the most difficult of times. It will for you as well.