By Pastor Steve Nickodemus

Yet I Will Rejoice in the Lord

“Though the fig tree should not blossom… yet I will rejoice in the Lord.” Habakkuk 3:17a, 18a English Standard Version

You and I are so closely enmeshed with our circumstances, so tied to our physical well being.  If my back hurts, life is bad.  If my knee hurts, I feel miserable.  If I have a bad cold, I want to die.  And when I lose my job or I don’t have enough to eat or my car quits, I feel hopeless and full of futility and pain.

We seem to have taken on this attitude; if life is pretty good, I will give thanks to God and be loving and full of peace.  But if life is not good, then I will withhold my thanksgiving and my gratitude and my positive attitude.  My faith becomes dependent on the size of my bank account or how healthy my body is or how many friends I have.  “Sure,” I might say, “its easy to praise God in the good times.  But if things really go south, who can blame me for a little complaining and griping?”

Yet it is in the difficult times, the painful times, the hard times, that our faith is tested and grows strong.  The prophet Habakkuk says, “Though the fig tree should not blossom… yet I will rejoice in the Lord.”  Even if the bottom drops out of my life and all that I have is my assurance of eternal life in Jesus, yet I will praise my God.

Can this be true?  Is it possible to praise God in the midst of calamity or pain or lack or hurt?  The answer is “yes”.  Perhaps not popular or natural or even within my own strength, but it is possible to praise God in all circumstances.  For suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…. because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit…”  (Romans 5:4-5)

In Jesus Christ we can rejoice… in all circumstances, praise His holy name. Amen.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church Colorado Springs, Colorado