Yet I Rejoice

What a joy to watch children who love the outdoors!  Chasing butterflies, climbing trees, swinging, picking daffodils - delightfully simple pleasures. What a contrast to being driven indoors by rain and storms. To fully appreciate Habakkuk's prayer in Chapter 3, we have to understand the prophet's frustration with Israel's repeated disobedience and God's use of the wicked Babylonians to judge the nation. Nonetheless Habakkuk prays, "Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation." (Habakkuk 3:17-18). Like looking through a rain-spattered window, longing for a sunny day, we embrace hope knowing the sun will be butterflies to chase, trees to climb, swings to be swung and daffodils to pick! We do this because the righteous live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4). Yes, this life brings rain and sometimes lots of it ... yet I rejoice; sometimes the sun doesn't shine ... yet I rejoice. We take joy not in what is visible but The One Who is invisible yet sure - the God of our Salvation. Whatever you're facing at this moment or whatever is facing you, live by these words ... yet I rejoice!