No Matter What

I trembled inside when I heard this;

my lips quivered with fear.

My legs gave way beneath me,

and I shook in terror.

I will wait quietly for the coming day

when disaster will strike the people who invade us.

Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,

and there are no grapes on the vines;

even though the olive crop fails,

and the fields lie empty and barren;

even though the flocks die in the fields,

and the cattle barns are empty,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD!

I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! Habakkuk 3:16-18

THE LORD REVEALED to the prophet Habakkuk that he was about to do a purifying work among his people by raising up the Babylonians to take them into captivity. Habakkuk lived among God’s people, so this word from God meant he and his family were about to come under attack. Habakkuk was clearly afraid about what would happen when the Babylonian invaders showed up on his doorstep. But he refused to let that fear control him.

Instead of trying to pray away what was coming, Habakkuk entrusted his life and perhaps his death to God. He entrusted his family’s future to God. He chose to live by faith —not the kind of faith that believed God would miraculously show up and shield them from harm, but faith that God would preserve them through harm. Habakkuk shows us that living by faith means banking our hope on God no matter what happens in this life. He discovered the door to a joy that is not dependent upon circumstances, trusting that God was in control of both the process and the outcome.

Lord, sometimes the possibility of coming catastrophe can make our family terribly afraid. We’re tempted to ask you only to protect us from difficulty, but what we really want is to be a family who lives by faith in the midst of the worst of circumstances. We want to be a family who faces the uncertainty of the future with calm confidence in you. You are strong enough to preserve us through the worst things that happen in this world.