Praising the Lord in the Darkest Days

Habakkuk 3:2-6, 17-19

Habakkuk was a prophet in the southern Kingdom of Judah during the mid-600’s BC.  The Lord God had shown him the future of the Jewish people coming in the next few decades.  The people of Judah had consistently turned away from Yahweh, and turned to other foreign gods, who were false gods.  Because of this unfaithfulness to Him and His Word, destruction was to come upon the nation.  This had been revealed to Habakkuk, and he naturally was mourning for his countrymen.  He pleads to God for mercy in verse 2.  He knows that God’s judgment and wrath is just and right, but he still pleads for mercy.

Verses 17 thru 19 are some of my favorite in Scripture.  In verse 17 Habakkuk describes a complete economic collapse.  Judah was primarily an agrarian country, as most countries were at this time.  He describes the failing of their crops, such as figs, olives and grape orchards, which were their primary crops.  Their sheep and cattle herds would also perish.  Their whole economy would crumble.  People would lose everything.  No money in the banks.  Nothing.

Our country experienced that in the 1930’s.  Many people today have faced that personally in their own lives.  What is our response when faced with an overwhelming crisis like this?  Panic, fear, shaking of our fist at God and cursing Him, losing all faith?  Habakkuk’s response was to continue to praise the Lord, as verse 18 describes.  This isn’t always easy.  He knew, though, that God is the source of our survival, not our bank account.  Not our job, whether in the fields, or the shop, or business office.  In my own life I have been going through a very difficult financial time, being unemployed for quite awhile.  I know the feeling of verse 17.  I want to follow Habakkuk’s lead, though, and continue to praise the Lord and trust in Him.

About 2 miles from my house is a large zoo.  There they have one exhibit that has man-made rocky crags where several mountain goats live.  It is interesting to watch them leap and bound up and down the artificial mountain, never stumbling or falling.  God says in verse 19 that we will be like those mountain goats and deer, and that we will not stumble or fall.  He will lead us to those special high places with tender grass, mountain flowers, and cold, clear mountain streams.

Many people are afraid during these tense times in our country and around the world.  “What’s going to happen?”, people cry, wringing their hands.  If we are saved children of God we can be like those deer and mountain goats.  The people of Judah were facing the destruction of their country and deportation.  In mine and many other families we face no job, empty bank accounts.  But like Habakkuk, we can continue to praise the Lord and find our joy in Him.