Even So, I Will Rejoice in the Lord - Devotions for 1-24-24

Habakkuk 3:18 “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”

            Habakkuk is a short book from one of the minor prophets in the Old Testament. The book is only 3 chapters long. At the end of the book, he says something very profound. After giving a list of all sorts of things going totally wrong, farms not producing crops, and other failures of normally stable and predictable things he says the above quote. He is saying, even if all other things fail and my life falls totally apart, “yet I will rejoice in the Lord: I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”

            What a stable thought. I wish I could say with confidence that if everything in my life fell apart and I ended up like Job, having lost everything important to me and my life, that I would still rejoice in the Lord. I wish I could claim to be that solid in my faith. I hope that, if that were to happen, I could live like that. I hope, I wish, but only God knows. What I do know is that I am weak. I resemble the children’s song, “They are (I am) weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me…”

            Back to Habakkuk. Most prophets in the bible had really hard lives. Many of them were killed by their own people. Isaiah was sawn in half by some Jews who didn’t like what he said. Jeremiah and Ezekiel and others too were killed for what they said, killed for following the Lord’s call on their lives. The life of a prophet of God was not easy.

            So, when Habakkuk talks about having everything taken away, he could have been thinking of those other prophets who had even their lives taken from them. Would that happen to him? Would he be killed like many of the other prophets before him?

            As it would turn out, he would not be killed for his prophesies, but he would end up leaving the land of Israel, live in Arabia and move to Babylon with Daniel and the others who were taken into exile. During those times he would know about losing everything including the lands and farms he owned.

            So, his statement about losing the fig trees, grapes, olives, sheep and cattle (vs 17) was likely real. He likely did experience losing everything he owned at the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar. It would seem then, that he is passing on to all who would read his words, that with the help of God Himself, we can rejoice through anything that comes our way.

            The Apostle Paul says the same thing in the book of 1 Thessalonians “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.” And again in Philippians “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.” Paul was in prison when he wrote those words.

            It seems then, that those who go through times of great sorrow and loss can be helped through those times. Not everyone comes through hard times rejoicing, but some do. So, there is hope for us, hope for me. I hope I never have that kind of sorrow or loss, but if I do, if you do, there is hope and our hope is in the Lord. He can help us through times of great loss and great sorrow if we cling to him.

            The last part of verse 18 shows why. Because we are saved. We know where we will spend eternity if we believe in Jesus. So, for the believer, our salvation is what makes it possible to rejoice even when all earthly things fail us. We can rejoice because we will live in heaven where moth and rust and all other earthly problems do not bother us.

            Even so, I will rejoice in the Lord!

Pastor Gary.