My reading this week took me through the tiny book of Habakkuk. The hand of the Lord he would see would be a hand of judgment as God had to deal with his people. He had the assurance that God would deal with Israel’s enemies as well, but the heartbreak for Habakkuk was knowing God had to deal harshly with his own people.
He asks for the mercy of God. He also asks to be prepared in his own life.
He wants to be prepared as well for the time God would deliver them. Habakkuk lived in a fearful time. Yet, he CHOSE to give thanks. He CHOSE to lash himself to the Most High and hold on for dear life. He decided to trust God in the storm.
17 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,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights. (Hab. 3:17-19, NIV)
Knowing that physical pain would be on the horizon, Habakkuk chose to rejoice in the Lord. He knew the Lord would give him strength to rise above the situation.
Our world may still have a tremendous amount of instability. It will probably always have that possibility. But it’s not about what is around us. It is about what is IN us. In this Thanksgiving season, we can still choose to give thanks. We can rejoice in God our Savior. We can know the joy of the Lord carrying us above the storm.
Apprentice 2 Jesus 
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