Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. (Hab 3:17-18)
Habakkuk lived in a time of cultural corruption and degradation from the leadership to the laity. The economy was unstable and the future was bleak.
He prayed, asking God for deliverance. God paradoxically promises spiritual deliverance through physical bondage to Babylon. Therein is how God deals with his people; if you desire to be like them, then I will hand you over to them.
Yet in the mist of this certain decline and fall of the nation, Habakkuk has found for himself a safe position: a place of joy. That joy is found in the salvation that God has provided. Not a salvation, according to a man’s dictates and desires, not a salvation that could or would be contrived by men, not a salvation that would be accepted as such by the carnal heart, but a salvation that can only be embraced by one who loves, submits, and relies on God.
Can you trust God when your humanity is screaming in fear and dread? Can you trust God when He informs you of certain degradation and devastation and tells you to be silent? Can you trust God when the answer to your prayers seems to take things in the same downward direction? Will you believe that the nation’s economy is not your economy? Will you believe that God can find a needle in a haystack and their suffering is not your suffering? Will you believe that danger for others is deliverance for you?
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