I am His, Part 2
Welcome back to this two part series where I’ve been joining Habakkuk on his journey from panicky despair to quiet, joyful, trust in the God of his salvation. Let’s jump right in… it might be helpful to read Habakkuk 3 first. This article focuses on verses 16-19.
I am His, I will Rejoice
The prideful and unbelieving may ride it out with all sorts of panic and noise, but Habakkuk waited quietly. He recognized that any thing or any one that he could place his trust in is ultimately at the mercy of God. So it is God that he should trust. It is God that he should fear. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And it is the fear of the Lord that leads to the humble trust that is the catalyst for the change in Habakkuk— from questioning God to trusting Him. And it is the fear of the Lord that allowed him to withstand every other fear. Notice that he was not suddenly unafraid of the danger around him. He is terrified of the judgement to come. Of the Babylonians. But his fear of the Lord, i.e. his renewed perspective of God’s power to deliver him at His appointed time as discussed in part 1, gives him the courage to face this fear.
The book of Habakkuk ends with a real life example of one of my favorite principles: two things can be true at the same time. Habakkuk ends with a sober perspective of his bleak reality, but with joy in his heart.
Habakkuk lists all the ways in which his situation is hopeless. I find myself relating to the underlying sentiments very much.
Relatable Hopelessness and it’s Surprising Antidote
Habakkuk works through his bleak reality situation in verse 17. He lists all the temporal realities that give warrant to his hopelessness for life here on earth.
Though the fig tee should not blossom. The fig tree stood clearly in scripture as a symbol of prosperity and of God’s favor. In addition to this, a lot of labor goes into producing fruit, so when storm or something else prevented the crop from growing, it was deeply lamented. Perhaps you wouldn’t use the language of “though the fig tree should not blossom”, but can you relate to the sentiment that God’s favor seems gone? Can you relate to the disappointment Habakkuk must have felt at the fact that all of his labor for fruit seemed laid to waste? All the evaluations, appointments, insurance calls, medication changes, hospitalizations, alternative remedies— and nothing. Your loved one is still in utter darkness. Your loved one continues in a destructive state of dis regulation. You worn yourself ragged and weary for the fruit of health, and there is no improvement to show for it. Habakkuk gets it, and still, he rejoices.
Nor fruit be on the vines. The vine was a symbol of prosperity and peace. Habakkuk declares that prosperity and peace were a distant memory. Remember when life was smooth sailing, and your dreams for parenthood were full of small moments of joy instead of colossal moments of chaos? Yeah, Habakkuk gets it, and still, he rejoices.
The produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food. Olives were the most cultivated and valuable tree in Palestine. One tree could supply the fat needs of an entire family for an entire year. Olives were an important resource, sustaining families physically. Do you feel that your resources have been completely drained? When you have been up until the a.m. with one child, and then up at the crack of dawn with another, you resources are low. When your bank account is being depleted by therapy appointments, medical bills, medication, special diet foods, equipment, your resources are low. When there is laundry everywhere, food going to waste in the refrigerator, dirty bathrooms, crumbs all over the floor, and hardly anywhere to sit in your messy car, your resource are low. You may feel like you don’t have what you need, and all you can hope to do is survive. Habakkuk gets it, and still, he rejoices.
The flock be cut off from the fold. The fold was an enclosure or pen for the flock. It was a place of gathering or safety and rest. It represented a place of protection and security for believers, under a shepherd’s care. Do you feel defenseless? That you cannot rest because if you do calamity will come? Do you feel vulnerable and abandoned with out protection? Habakkuk gets it, and still, he rejoices.
And there be no herd in the stalls. The herd likely refers to cattle which were beasts of burden. They carried the heavy load. Habakkuk’s meaning here is clear: there is no help to carry the load. Often parents of children with developmental or psychiatric disabilities are alone on their journey— spouses unable or unwilling to accept or support the struggles. Often misunderstanding leads to alienation from extended family members and friends. Families impacted by developmental or psychiatric disability walk into church carrying their invisible load on their backs, and leave with the same weight they came in with. Beyond that, there are many burdens of caring for a person with disability that are simply hard to share. Doctors appointments where detailed histories will be needed. Insurance pone calls where personal information will have to be shared. Meltdowns are never planned and so are therefore impossible to plan to have help for. Extremely early wake up calls from a child who simply cannot sleep, and who cannot be left alone. You might feel like there is no help to carry the load you have been given. Habakkuk gets it, and still, he rejoices.
Though there was no favor, no prosperity, no peace, no provision, no safety, no help— Habakkuk made a choice to rejoice. He made a choice to rejoice because his faith had become so strong that it was as if salvation is already his. In 3:18 Habakkuk declared “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will take joy in the God of my salvation”. Present tense. His promises to deliver us from trouble are so sure that we can already take joy in the God who will deliver us from everything that assails us now. God’s promise to make all things new is so certain that I can rejoice now that Evie’s body and brain will work just as it was supposed to. That he will transform her completely. That may not be until eternity. But a cure has been promised, and the payment has already been made. Evie’s healing is as good as done because I know that God’s promises are sure.
It’s a choice. Read Habakkuk 3. Maybe go back and part 1, and then perhaps even read through part 2 again. Will you approach Him and ask him your questions? Will you wait for his answers, and actually receive them? Will you have a conversation with God? Will you adopt a posture of humble faith? Will you stand on the watchtower and wait to have your thinking corrected? Will you believe God more than you believe yourself? Will you align your perspective with God’s promises? Believing that sin and evil will be punished, and that his people will be avenged? Will you remember that He is angry at anyone and anything that harms and oppresses his people, and that He has always and will continue to use His power and His incredible might for the salivation of His own? Will you wait patiently for Him? Knowing that His character is unchanging, His power unmatched, His love secure, and His promises sure? Will you notice with me, that even more than Habakkuk we can see His track record of coming through for his people?
What Habakkuk Didn’t Get to See
Habakkuk trusted God for deliverance based on past events. And we know that God DID eventually deliver Israel from the Babylonians. God did do all that he said he would do to Habakkuk in chapters 1 and 2. But what Habakkuk didn’t know, is that there was another bigger and much more profound promise buried in there. Go look at in verse 13— he will crush the head of the house of the wicked, and he will use the weapon of the enemy against him. This points to the much bigger promise made all the way back in Genesis 3:15. God fulfilled this promise by means of the cross. He crushed the head of the wicked when Jesus died on that wretched cross. And what’s more— God actually used the weapon of the enemy— death and violence— on himself. It was violence and death that brought victory over death and violence. We have this history to look back on. We have his history to remember. We have the passionate love of God to remember and to consider and be assured that we can wait quietly for the Lord to “go out for the salvation of his people”. Romans 8:32 basically preaches this message for me: He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? This process is a choice. Though my earthly eyes see bleak and hopeless circumstances, my spiritual eyes see a God who has me in his sights and my enemies at the end of an arrow.
Treading on the High Places
The inevitable result of this is strength: “the joy of the Lord is my strength”. This perspective shift gives you the strength to get through another day. He closes his prayer in vs 19 by saying— He makes my feet like the deers, that I may tread on my high places. God will fortify you and give you the strength you need to pass over all obstacles. Trust in Him produces a strength that will enable you to climb the precipices of mountains, and area of difficulties. God will make His faithful people advance boldly and without fear along high places and treacherous places. He makes your feet like the deers, so you may tread on your high places. Places that are potentially treacherous, but that mountain goats and deer just hop right around on.