Habakkuk 3:17-19 (ESV)
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.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
He makes my feet like the deer's;
He makes me tread on my high places.
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
How should we read this text?
Well, when we first read this, Habakkuk's words here seem a little bit bleak. You know, the prophet is vividly describing a scene of total economic collapse. Everything that provides for life and for sustaining people—fig trees, vines, olive crops, fields, flocks, herds—everything is falling apart, failing, or has disappeared.
So to fully appreciate Habakkuk's statement here, we need to understand what's happening in the broader context. Now, as we've been exploring, he's been prophesying in Judah just before the time of the Babylonian exile. He’s wrestled deeply with God and he's been asking God how a just and holy God could allow such evil and injustice and this impending doom to befall his people.
Earlier in the book, Habakkuk voiced his confusion, his frustration with God. He's been telling God that he doesn't understand these things. And then God responded. He didn't respond with an immediate rescue, but He did respond with the assurance that He is going to be sovereign and that His justice will ultimately reign. In the end, Babylon too is going to be judged.
But then here, at the end of the book, Habakkuk the prophet has changed. There's this dramatic shift in Habakkuk's attitude. He has understood the grim reality of what's happening to Judah. But even in this grim reality, Habakkuk makes what is really a very powerful confession of his trust in a holy God who knows what He’s doing.
And so this text captures really a pretty extraordinary statement of faith. Habakkuk is determined to find his joy not in his circumstances, but in God himself. So even though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vine, yet I will rejoice in God my Saviour.
This prophet beautifully shows us that joy in God is not dependent on our circumstances. Habakkuk recognises that God's strength is sufficient for him, even while he's going through this disaster in Judah. God is the one who makes Habakkuk's feet like the deer. He’s able to walk securely upon those rocky and dangerous high places.
Habakkuk's point is this: God is enough, even when everything else is lost. And that means something for us today.
How should the text read us?
Well, this text reads us because it reaches right into our heart and it challenges us—particularly because we're so dependent on our comfort and our prosperity. Habakkuk has these words that confront us and confront our tendency to get our happiness and our security in things that disappear—in idols, in things that vanish in an instant.
We tend to evaluate our circumstances based on whether we are doing well financially, or whether we are healthy, or whether we have good relationships with people around us, whether our careers are successful. We tend to think about our own success in life as whether we have this sense of fulfilment in our lives.
We often say that we trust God, but when we're honest with ourselves, we really measure whether or not God really loves us by how well we're doing in life.
This passage at the end of Habakkuk is inviting us into a deeper reality, a more true reality, a more spiritual reality. Habakkuk is inviting us into an unshakable reality that exists whether our circumstances are good or bad.
You know, friends, we should ask whether we're genuinely able to say with Habakkuk that we are going to rejoice in God even when everything else crumbles and falls away.
Is that true of you?
That is an incredible position of faith. And it's really no small feat, because I think it's quite natural for us to grieve loss and to feel anxiety when things that we put our security in are threatened. But this passage in Scripture reminds us that when we trust in God, that's where we find our peace and our joy.
It's not because we don't have problems, but it's because God is with us even in our problems.
What does this look like practically?
I think this means for us that we have a responsibility here to build a deep intimacy and relationship with God through prayer and through Scripture—particularly in times of trial.
We are being called here to consciously remind ourselves that God has made promises, that He is faithful to us, that His character does not change. And critically, it reminds us that Jesus has already died on the cross for all our sins, to wipe them away and to clear us of our sin debt to God.
Because that's true, we need to recognise that everything that comes to us comes to us not by chance, but by God's fatherly hand, as the Catechism says in Lord's Day 10.
This Scripture reminds us and calls us to reflect on where our true salvation and true security lies.
Is it true of us that we can affirm today that we love the Lord, that He is enough, that our security comes from Him and not from our circumstances?
If you are going through a difficult time right now—where you are being challenged in your faith because of your circumstances—Habakkuk reminds us that even in this circumstance, God is enough. His mercy is new every morning, and His grace is sufficient for us.
Prayer
Dear Lord,
Thank you for the honesty of Habakkuk's wrestle with you.
Thank you for the hope that we have in Jesus.
Help us to trust you deeply, even when our situation seems difficult, can seem overwhelming, sometimes even feels hopeless.
Remind us that our strength is not in who we are or in our circumstances, but in who you are and what you have done for us already.
Teach us to depend on you fully, we pray.
In Jesus' name, Amen.