They say anyone can praise God in when times are good and things are going well. I believe that is true. The Bible says “every good and perfect gift” comes from Him (James 1:17, Holy Bible). Like anyone else, I find it easy to be thankful when I have a good day – no problems at work, family and friends call with “good news” and my doctor’s appointment goes well. Any of us can create our list of reasons to praise the Lord. “Let everything that hath breath, praise the Lord” is the clarion call of Holy Scripture because He is the Lord and worthy of our praise and adoration. Yet, I know that there have been times, in the midst of personal struggles and those times when things in my life were not quite happening in the time I thought they should occur, I praise God in the challenges of my life. You may have been there a time or two.
There is a scripture in the Old Testament that helps me to understand the importance of praising God not only in fruitful seasons but in barrenness. “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!” (Habakkuk 3:17-18). The writer in this scripture tell us: it does not matter if there are material evidences of God’s blessings. There is something more important in terms of “relationship with God” beyond the “stuff of life”. There is a message in the “yet I will” that should be considered.
“Yet I will”. The power of those three words are distant from so many things that make us feel “happy” –that phrase is connected to the One who brings good times and allows bad times; brings the blessings and allows for seasons of loss; brings the happy times and allows us to experience sad times. The “yet I will” is about a decision within us to praise God not because of what we have, but because of who He is – He then becomes the “cause” of our praise, joy and happiness. I have come to know in my own life that when decide to praise the Lord for what I have and for who He already is and has been in my life, what appears to be a season of barrenness is really a prelude for my next season of blessing.
Look at the barren tree for instance. In the Northeast and across the country that is going through a winter season, the trees and much of plant life appears dead. There are no leaves on the tree. The flowers have cascaded into a silence hiding their petals and the brilliance of their color. The shrinking of other bushes are evident and “yet” , if you know a little about botany, you know that what appears to have no life actually is alive – in another stage of life to prepare for the new season when the leaves, petals and color will spring forth – what we call “Spring”. Nature is a witness to the wisdom of God in allowing barren seasons to bring forth bounty at the right time. Nature does not shirk from the season of winter; it embraces the winter season knowing that a new season will come.
“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord” is more than a command. It is a decision to know God in a deeper sense than when we think we have “little” to praise Him for in our season of barrenness. God is still at work, just like He is at work in nature, to bring us to fresh seasons of blessing and riches that can only be found in Him.
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