A Beautiful "YET"

Once upon a time there was a man named Habakkuk. He was a prophet for the tribe of Judah during the reign of King Jehoiakim. Keep in mind, these are real men that lived in a real time. He lived in a preverse and corrupt time and called out to the Lord for change. God answered him, but He gave a different response than Habakkuk had in mind.

"Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans..." --Habakkuk 1:5-6a

Habakkuk had asked God to intervene and God said He was going to raise a group of ungodly men to seize them. I think it's safe to say that wasn't entirely what he was hoping for. His response is out of reverence, but he did complain that they are an ungodly nation and it didn't seem fair. The rest of the book is Habakkuk going back and forth between extolling the LORD as the God of his salvation, but also expressing his concern that this does sadden him. He was in anguish with this, but still saw that the Lord was to be praised. 

The end of the book are some of my favorite verses ever. (I know I say that a lot, but for real!) 

"Thought 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, ..." --Habakkuk 3:17

Pause, okay...this sounds really bad, right?

"...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 of my high places." -- Habakkuk 3:18-19a

Habakkuk has such a beautiful picture of trusting God here. Honestly, I don't think I'd have this response. Okay, I don't have this response now often when the "fig trees don't blossom" in my life. Things were really bad for Habakkuk as he saw the nation that he loved fall under God's judgement, but he knew that God was still good and he could praise him even in the hard times. 

I'm not much like Habakkuk, but through the working of the Holy Spirit in my life, He can give me a response of praise during the hard times in life. It's not something that we work up to and try harder, but the work of God in and through our lives. When times are hard, He is still worthy to be praised. Above all, we can point back to the one day in history when the Creator of the Universe sent His Son to die on a cross, where each and every one of us should have been. And as we point to that day, no matter what this day entails, we too can say, "yet, I will rejoice in the LORD. I will take joy in the God of my salvation."