Thankful When You’re Counting Pennies
NOVEMBER 27
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places." Habakkuk 3:17-19
In Habakkuk’s day, there was an economic recession. There were no cows in the barn. “Yet …” he writes. Oh, how I love that “yet” in verse 18. “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Where was his joy? In the Lord, not circumstances.
If you depend on circumstances, you can’t say “rejoice always,” because circumstances change. You lose your job. You lose your health. You lose your friends. You lose your prestige. If that’s where you’re getting your joy, and that changes, you can’t say, “Yet will I rejoice.” But Habakkuk said, “Yet will I joy in the God of my salvation.”
Where are you getting your joy? From the Lord? I hope you are. There’s one way we can find out. If you’re getting your joy from your job, we can find out if we take your job and see if you still have your joy. Maybe you’re getting your joy from your health. You say, “No, it’s from the Lord.” If your health fails, see if you still have your joy.
You see, the only joy anyone can have is in the Lord, because He never changes. Your joy can be threatened if you get it anywhere else. It’s not wrong to joy in your health or your job. But that’s the kind of joy that can be threatened. You need a joy which supersedes that. Psalm 16:11: says, “Thou will show me the path of life; in Thy presence is fullness of joy.” Rejoice in the Lord always. It’s to be continuous joy.
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