Note: Devotion taken from the afternoon sermon at CRBC on Sunday, January 1, 2023.
The final chapter of Habakkuk is described as “A prayer of
Habakkuk the prophet” (3:1). This prayer concludes in 3:17-29 with an
affirmation of faith and a confident declaration that God is to be worshipped
regardless of the external circumstances his people must face.
Pagan religions are based on a quid pro quo. You scratch my
back, and I’ll scratch yours. But Biblical faith is not like that. The one true
God is to be worshipped no matter what comes our way, no matter what the Lord in
his all-wise providence decrees for us.
In contrast to the pagan view, Habakkuk declares:
3:17 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: 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of
my salvation.
The evidence of a mature faith is not that you praise the
LORD when things are going well, but that you turn to him when things seem awful
and beyond your control. There is confidence even in such times that the Lord
will be our strength and that he will cause us like the deer to walk in high
places once again (v. 19).
This is the kind of faith
that Job had. When he had lost everything, Job declared, “Naked came I out of
my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD
hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21).
It is the kind of faith that the
three Hebrew youths had when threatened with the fiery furnace. They said to
the king, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the
burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king, But if
not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship
the golden image thou hast set up” (Daniel 3:17-18).
It is the kind of faith that the
apostle Paul had when he wrote from a Roman prison, “Rejoice in the Lord alway:
and again I say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).
Friends, we know not what will
come our way this year. It may be our last year.
We pray it will be filled with
great outward prosperity and blessing, but do we have that sort of mature
faith, so that even if it is a year of emptiness we are still resolved to
rejoice in the Lord, to joy in the God of our salvation, and to acknowledge him
as our strength, even in our weakness?
I pray we will have the same
spiritual orientation as the prophet Habakkuk in this year before us.
Grace and peace, Pastor
Jeff Riddle
No comments:
Post a Comment