Yet I Will Rejoice

One of the hardest things to do in life is to pour everything you have into something without it benefitting you in any way. Throughout our lives, we are faced with choices to do many difficult things. If you are like me, when this happens your first thought is, “How is this going to benefit me and is it worth it?” We are always weighing and measuring the cost-to-benefit ratio of the choices that we make. If we plug it into the equation and realize it will give us more than we put in, we do it. If we realize it will be difficult, strenuous, stressful, and there will be little or no benefit for us, we don’t usually do it. What does this say about our character? What does it say about who we really are and what we really care about?

In the OT, it was often communicated to the people of God and the prophets that if they followed and obeyed God, things would go well for them. If they disobeyed God and turned to idols judgment would come. In a situation like this, most of us today would probably have begrudgingly obeyed God, if such a thing is even possible, in order to remain free of judgment and full of blessings. We have measured the cost-to-benefit ratio and found it in our best interest to follow God so we don’t die. In one of the most powerful verses in the Old Testament, the prophet Habakkuk makes quite a statement:

Though the fig tree does not bud
 and there is no fruit on the vines,
 though the olive crop fails 
and the fields produce no food,
 though there are no sheep in the pen
 and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will triumph in Yahweh; 
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! Yahweh my Lord is my strength;
 He makes my feet like those of a deer
 and enables me to walk on mountain heights!

-       Habakkuk 3:17-19

What kind of obedience is one that obeys begrudgingly? What kind of worshipper of God are we if we only do so when things are good? What kind of follower are we if we only do so when the path is easy and filled with fruit, food, sheep, cattle, wealth, and pleasure? The power in Habakkuk’s statement is obvious if we look at it from this perspective. He was struggling deeply with God’s action in his world and the world around him. He was often confused, struggling, and sickened by what God said and did in spite of his obedience. He didn't turn away because he was suffering. He didn’t give up on following God when things got hard. Instead he made this powerful statement that even if there seems to be no visible evidence that he had trusted well, he would continue to trust. Even if there is no benefit for him personally and he must endure pain and hardship, he would continue to have faith and obey God.

We must learn from Habakkuk. We must learn that a true worshipper of God does not only worship when things are good. He does not only follow God when there is a clear benefit. We must be willing to obey, suffer in spite of it, and continue to obey anyway. Even when we run out of food, the fruit is non-existent, and we have nothing to take pleasure in, we respond by declaring, “Yet I will triumph in Yahweh; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!”