This past year, as I faced failing health and deep depression, rejoicing was far from my lips. I lived in darkness and fear. Though I immersed myself in Scripture, God seemed far away. I felt forsaken and alone. Have you been there? Might you be there now? Then look with me at some words of Habakkuk.
“How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” (Hab. 1:2). Can you relate to these words of lament? Just as Habakkuk cried out to God during days when evil and injustice seemed to triumph, so we too cry out to God when our hearts are broken, our bodies are failing, and darkness is pressing in on every side.
It is not Habakkuk’s lament that is unknown to us; rather, it is his rejoicing in the midst of trouble that often alludes us.
“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” (Hab. 3:17–18)
Yet I will rejoice? How? I believe the answer comes through faith and belonging.
FAITH
Habakkuk lived during days of great evil, yet he could rejoice because he had faith in a God who always does what He says He will do. God said He would bring justice on those who had forsaken the Torah; Habakkuk believed Him. God said He would hold nations accountable for their evil; Habakkuk believed Him. God said He would rescue the oppressed and deliver His people from injustice; Habakkuk clung to this promise in faith and could; therefore, rejoice.
Like Habakkuk, we don’t have to see to believe. “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Heb. 11:1) Even in our darkest moments, faith says there is cause for rejoicing.
BELONGING
In Habakkuk’s distress, he acknowledged God as his own. “My God, my Holy One,” he cried (Hab. 1:12). He recognized that he was not his own, but belonged to the one true God. Sometimes in our affliction, we cannot see past five minutes, but in faith we can cling to the hope that we belong to God. And because we belong to God, bought by Him at the highest price, there is no occasion for despair. God always does for His people what He says He will do. Therefore, we can rejoice in all things!
We belong to the same God as Habakkuk did, and this God is working His will in us, sculpting us into His design. We can trust the Master’s hands even when they are pounding us flat and stretching us thin. We are being fashioned into a vessel for His great purpose. The pounding and stretching are not evidence that we are cast aside, rather, they are evidence of our belonging. We are a part of the heritage of faith. We belong to the Master Sculptor. He will come through for us—He promised. Because of this, we can rejoice.
REJOICE!
Are you walking in fear and darkness? Does God seem far away? Is rejoicing far from your lips? Then walk with me, Sister, in our heritage of faith, knowing that we belong to the one true God who always does what He says He will do. Though our economy struggle, and our land see famine, though we walk in depression and disease, though we bury our loved ones and our wombs remain empty, though our spouses forsake us and our children rebel, “though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea” (Ps. 46:2), together with Habakkuk and all the saints, we can rejoice!