By Juliane Wiebracht –
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
How do we praise God when the fig tree isn’t blooming, there is no fruit on the vine, the harvest has failed, the fields aren’t producing any food, and the stalls are empty? When the most desperate prayers remain unanswered, the road we thought God placed us on leads to a dead end, and we are left confused and disheartened?
There is a special beauty that surfaces when the visible “proofs” of God’s love fall away. When those observable reminders of God’s power (that we used to hang our faith on) begin dropping to the ground, plummeting and breaking against the hardwood floors of our lives.
My flesh yearns for outward signs that God is pursuing those I love. Visible evidence of God’s providence for the ministry He has called me to. Tangible proof that my prayers are being answered and that He is truly working on my behalf. But when those things are stripped away and the harvest seems incredibly sparse, when the fields yield no food, what then? What is left for me to hope in? Habakkuk knew, he had figured it out. Even if all else was stripped away, there was one thing he could never lose. God Himself. So he says, “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”
This is where the paradox of God’s ways stand in stark contrast to my own. For when I lose the comforts of what I can see, the comforts in what I cannot see only grow. I go through days, despairing, depressed, forcing myself to thank God for the little things: my health, my godly friend, my dog… But the feeling of weight and sadness remains. The unanswered prayers still linger in my mind and the forced praise makes little difference. And then, as I ask Him to open the eyes of my heart, something awakens in me. The fog suddenly lifts as I remember… Remember the one thing that I can praise Him for that the world can never take away. A sweetness and joy that no circumstance can steal. The indescribable richness of being with Him. This deepest joy that I cannot live without, is the one gift that I never have to fear losing. The darkness cannot rob me from sitting at His feet and listening to His voice. Of speaking with Him in the deep of night, at the dawn of day, or in the heat of noon.
Whether the crops produce great harvest or the fields remain barren, the truth remains the same: my greatest treasure is secure. His deep companionship is eternal, unchangeable and abundantly sufficient.
Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29.
