Not Always Easy To Do
Today’s Passage – Habakkuk 1 – 3
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:17 & 18)
This morning as I write this post, I am sitting on the patio of a luxurious condominium on the Big Island of Hawaii. To my left is a spectacular view of a golf course with a beautiful mountain off in the distance. Directly in front of me is an expansive pool with exquisite landscaping. I am drinking a cup of coffee, listening to the tropical birds chirping in 75 or so degree temperatures; and as you can see from the picture above, there is not a cloud in the sky. It’s easy to rejoice and “joy in God” under such circumstances.
However, Habakkuk is facing very difficult days where there was little to be happy about, at least from a human perspective. However, he chose to rejoice; he chose to be thankful to great and powerful and awesome God despite his present circumstances. This is not easy to do. It takes a great deal of spiritual maturity to look past the temporal and rejoice in the eternal blessings that God gives, as well as just rejoicing in who God is.
Today, I have a lot of good things to enjoy about my life. I am in a virtual paradise on earth; but the true test of my spirituality will be determined when I choose to rejoice and “joy in God” when the vacation is over and when I am back to the old grind, contending with all of the problems that all of us face in life. The crazy thing is, I have just as much to rejoice about then as I do now. It’s all a matter of how I choose to look at it. God is good all of the time!
Posted in Devotions by Phil Erickson with 2 comments.
Amazing! My Preacher (Pastor Doster) preached Sunday night about that it is our choice whether or not we are upbeat or a grump. A grump finds little to praise God about, while the upbeat Christian sees many many things that even more mature Christians forget.
It is funny that our settings were very different this morning. As I sat drinking my morning coffee I could hear the sound of rain hitting the leaves outside my windows. It was still dark and the wind was blowing. There are two things that never fail to make me think of God’s awesome power. They are the sounds of the wind and rushing water. I was so thankful this morning for the wind and rain. “Be still and know that I am God” always comes to mind. My time with the Lord is extra special on mornings like today. It is so comforting to sense the Lord’s power and to realize that he has control of everything. Why should I want to control my life. I think back to when I was a small child and how protected I always felt in my Dad’s presence. All I had to do was obey him and life was so good. It should be even better with our heavenly father.