Habakkuk 3:17–18: “Though the fig tree may not blossom, / Nor fruit be on the vines; / Though the labor of the olive may fail, / And the fields yield no food; / Though 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 joy in the God of my salvation.”

December 6th, 2021 by Pastor Ed in devotional

This verse is certainly worth memorizing for those times and storms and troubles that sweep across every believer’s life. For Habakkuk, and for us, this marked a choice he was making to keep a correct view of his life. Even though everything that was familiar to him was about to collapse, Habakkuk still chose to rejoice in his salvation. This young prophet was reaffirming his commitment to the Lord. “Yet will I rejoice” was his way of saying, “God, by your grace I pledge to remain faithful and unmoved in the day of trouble and will chose to focus on and rejoice in what You have already done for me eternally.”

The question for us is what attitude will we chose if difficulties arise today? We can choose very little in life, but we can decide how we will respond to adversity and storms. We can choose our own attitude. Paul Harvey wrote of an interesting incident that illustrates this point:

After Hurricane Andrew devastated south Florida, Patricia Christy was waiting in line for food. She vowed she was going to get out of that state. She was going to leave on the first plane out. She was determined to get as far away from the horror of hurricane damage as she possibly could and have a restful vacation.

I have just heard from Patricia Christy. She was standing in line for fresh water on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, having just gone through Hurricane Iniki.

Jesus told us to expect storms because it rains on both the good and the evil. Besides physical storms there are storms of finances, relationships, health, employment, housing, etc., just to name a few. The question is will we still choose to be joyful in God when people and circumstances turn against us?

“LORD, help us to say along with Habakkuk today: ‘Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.'”