“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord” Habakkuk 3:18
This short passage, half of a sentence, is a large lesson in itself. Take it out of the context of Habakkuk— place it on a shelf alone and we could still discuss it for days.
It is something I need to repeat in my heart minute by minute because “yet” implies something happened before this statement.
What I need to carve into my heart is no matter what my “yet” is, no matter the circumstances or hardships, I should rejoice in the Lord.
The past few days, as my newborn has been sick with a cold and I’ve been mulling over some health issues, I find myself repeating that God is good. He is good all the time. He does not want harm to fall upon me. We live in a cursed world where bad things happen to all people. It doesn’t change the promises of God. It doesn’t change how much He loves us. I should– I will rejoice.
I kind of see it as my child falling on the playground and getting a scraped knee. It hurt the child but that doesn’t change my relationship with him. It doesn’t change the “I love you” that I’ve said to him or the promises I’ve made to him. Yes, I could have been right next to him the entire time he was playing, making sure he didn’t fall—but would he have learned his balance then? Would he still remember to tie his shoe that tripped him? What good am I doing him by always catching his fall? As a parent, we know that the child would take us for granted pretty quickly if we were always there to prevent every scraped knee from happening. We also know, as a parent, that maybe the first time they fall there will be all the tears but the second or third time that little boy will get up and right back to running around (probably still not tying his shoe).
We want to be so quick to blame God who we know could prevent bad things happening in our lives but what would we learn? What kind of life is that living? How would we relate to others without life experiences and hardships?
I find that many of my sweet and unexpected relationships are formed with someone who I have very little in common with but between our hardships an amazing bond is created.
Our Father wants us to live life to the fullest. He wants us to lean on Him and ask for help. But He’s going to let us get some scraped knees along the way because He knows it will just make us stronger.
(Note: He is unchanging. He is always the same. He never fails)
What things around you help you to proclaim that God is good?
Psalm 145:9, 2 Corinthians 9:8
What promises does God give His precious children? Do you believe these?
Look up 1 John 2:25, Romans 8:16-17, 1 Peter 2:9-10