Habakkuk 3:17-19

Sisters and brothers in Christ,

This evening’s Bible passage is Habakkuk 3:17-19:

¹⁷ 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,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹ 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.

This is one of the most breathtaking declarations of joy in all of Scripture. In chap. 1, God has warned Habakkuk that the “dreaded and fearsome” Chaldean (Babylonian) armies will soon sweep through Judah, leaving devastation in their wake. Habakkuk’s affirmation of joy in the God of his salvation is thus not a pious boast of how he would behave if disaster were to come. Nor is it a boast of how he hopes to behave when (or if?) God spares him from the worst of the Babylonian invasion. It’s a bold statement that, even if a total failure of crops and livestock should accompany the imminent warfare, Habbakkuk will still “rejoice in the LORD” and “take joy in the God of [his] salvation.”

How can Habbakuk be so confident? I can only think that he has learned, in the very depths of his being, to distinguish between the good gifts of God that make life pleasant, comfortable, and add to our happiness (good food, a measure of prosperity, etc.) and the unchanging source of true joy, which is God himself. He’s no ascetic who wants to go without good things as a way of testing his spirituality. If I read this passage correctly, Habbakuk enjoys material blessings, but his core of joy doesn’t depend on them. His sustaining joy comes instead from his personal and unshakable relationship with the God of his salvation.

God has shown his love for us in Christ in greater clarity than even Habakkuk could have imagined. Yet few of us, I suspect, would be able to make so unconditional a claim as Habakkuk does that, if we lost everything but God himself, we would still rejoice in the God of our salvation.

But, look again. Habakkuk’s confidence isn’t rooted in his own strength. “God, the Lord, is [his] strength.” The same God is our strength. We may not yet have tapped into that strength often enough in the past to give us Habakkuk’s confidence in the future. But we have an opportunity now to test God’s strength, to lean into him, to rely on him day by day not only to sustain us, but to give us joy in the midst of uncertainty and possible loss. 

Have you ever watched a mountain deer or goat negotiate steep, rocky terrain with a confidence, ease, and security that is beyond human beings? What views they must have! How exhilarating it would be for one of us to step securely through such a perilous landscape without fear. Habakkuk uses this simile to describe how God’s strength can strengthen us to move through dangerous terrain not only without debilitating fear but also with deep and abiding joy. God has now given us an opportunity to test God’s strength, to move forward one step at a time, perhaps at first with considerable trepidation, but gradually with greater confidence, until we realize we are being given the gift, not merely of happiness in God’s blessings, but of joy in the God of our salvation himself.

Peace,

Max

P.S. In keeping with verse 19’s closing tag, I joyfully dedicate tonight’s meditation to music master Randy and to Nathaniel and Simon with their stringed instruments.