Back in a rough patch in my young adult years, an older man asked how I was doing. I said, “Oh, okay I guess. Under the circumstances.”
He smiled and asked, “What in the world are you doing under there?”
His bluntness caught me by surprise at first, but he was right. We don’t have to live under the circumstances.
What happens to your faith when life doesn’t go the way you planned?
The prophet Habakkuk ministered to God’s people as the Babylonian invasion loomed. The foreign power was about to sweep in and demolish the city and destroy the temple. Still, Habakkuk refused to live under the circumstances. He declared (3:17-19),
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.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.
He was no Pollyanna who just wanted to pretend that all was sweetness and light. And yet he refused to let his attitude rise or fall based on the circumstances. He said, “I will rejoice… I will be joyful.”
Those aren’t the words you expect to find at the end of his litany of disasters. So, how could he decide to be joyful? Notice the source of his joy: “I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my Savior.”
Of all John Piper’s sermons and books, this is his most memorable line: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” Habakkuk was satisfied in God, and so even the wreckage of his life became a stage on which he could glorify God.
Let’s study more about this on Sunday. Join us at 10am on campus or online!
Tom
Tom Goodman serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermonsare available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.