A Strong Faith
“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes 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 rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” (NIV) Habakkuk 3:17-18
I just love this prayer from Habakkuk. I live in Canada which is a real blessing, but it also presents a spiritual challenge because things are so comfortable here that it’s easy to forget how much I need to rely on God. Thinking about this got me to realize that one really doesn’t know how strong their faith is until they go through something hard or until they get out of their comfort zone. The attitude of Habakkuk in his prayer shows that he had real faith and was willing to praise God even when things were hard.
James 1:3-4 says “…the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” We can see from this that God can actually use hard times to strengthen our faith and so the question is, are we ready? Will we be strong enough when things go poorly at work? Will we be strong enough when money troubles come our way? Will we be strong enough when we are tempted by Satan to compromise what we know is right? Maybe some of us are going through a time of testing right now, and maybe for others, their time of testing is still coming, but as Christians, do we have the attitude of Habakkuk in our hearts that says: no matter what happens, I will choose to follow the Lord?
If you're anything like me, you probably try to avoid getting into uncomfortable situations for God because it seems scary and hard, but I think the message we read all through scripture is that God calls us to step out of the boat for Him. We must remember that He will not abandon us in our time of need but on the contrary, as He says in John 16:33: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”