Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
~ Habakkuk 3:17-18 (NIV)
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This is another of my favorite passages, and one I quote with some frequency! I first ran across this from a refrigerator magnet I bought at the Christian book store years ago. The title was JOY, and then quoted these verses. I think maybe the reference wasn't listed and didn't know it was from the Bible, until later when I read it in Habakkuk. What a perspective to have on life, huh?
How easily we're drawn off the mark of joy in the Lord when our crops don't produce, huh? Okay, so most of us don't do "crops", but you can correlate that to your own life easily enough. Our internal satisfaction is usually so linked to life success...good job with great annual reviews and salary increases...good kids who stay out of trouble and grow up to do great things...good relationships with family and friends and no drama in your life. When this stuff isn't happening and life is a mess, we are often out of whack in our relationship to God, because it all seems to interfere. Like EMI (electromagnetic interference). Our God computer glitches, and we have to reboot. Sometimes over and over and over.
Habakkuk had it down to the basics. No matter what happens in my life, especially for the things I cannot control, God is still the sole source of my joy. So, I ask you: If everything was taken from us...I mean everything...could we still find joy in the Lord? Or would we complain and whine and wallow in misery?
It's a choice, you know. We can choose to be miserable, or we can choose to have joy. Regardless of circumstances. So, how big is God, really, in our lives? Is He really our "all in all", like we sometimes sing in church? Is He really "everything to me" like the ground-breaking Christian song of the '70s? When we peel back the layers of our lives, do we find God in all His fullness, or a vacant room scattered with empty cardboard boxes and graffiti on walls, only the remnants and remains of life's ups and downs, but no God occupancy, no life?
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. ~ Romans 15:13 (NLT)
Let God be fully 'in'. Let God consume you. Let God be the wellspring of your joy. Habakkuk made the choice...so can you.
Love,
Joelene
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