Skip to main content

Though The Fig Tree

             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. (Habakkuk 3:17-18) 

            Today’s passage doesn’t discuss thankfulness. It goes farther. We’re not told to be thankful when everything goes wrong, we’re told to be joyful. Keeping in mind that joy is a deep sense of being cared for by someone who is capable of doing so – not giddy happiness – may help, but when there’s nothing? Most of us tend to think of basic food and shelter is the definition of being cared for. How could anyone think that we’re being cared for if we are homeless and starving. If a child were being treated that way, CPS would take the child from the parents, and most of us would say that CPS was right to do so. But when we’re talking about parents caring for children, we’re talking about human beings. Human parents are very limited in what they can do for children. God is not so limited.

            The God who can speak the whole universe into existence and can raise the dead doesn’t need figs, grapes, olives, sheep, or cattle to take care of us. He doesn’t even need for us to be alive for Him to be able to take care of us. This isn’t to suggest that we should seek this situation. To be without these things is not an ideal for us. But the rejoicing in the Lord and the joyfulness in God our Savior in this or any other circumstance is the ideal.

            I must admit – and I’m sure that I’m not alone – that I tend to consider the circumstances as far too powerful. They are more powerful than I am, and whether I get the idea that God has to cope with the circumstances or that God has imposed the circumstances on me (pitiful, poor, little me,) I’m making the circumstance out to be more powerful than God, or God less good. Neither option involves our thinking of God as God, and that is what today’s passage is really all about. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more