Gracepoint Fellowship Church Austin – Habakkuk Sharing

Manny Kim, the pastor of our newly planted Gracepoint Fellowship Church in Austin sent me his Devotion Time reflection over Habakkuk that I wanted to share here.  I think what Manny shares here gives you a whole new outlook on complaining, and on seeing the spiritual opportunity in every setback.

Habakkuk 3:17-18
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.

I just thought about how remarkable this statement is.  ‘Though the fig tree does not bud…..yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.’  
It is easy to say now as I sit here to do my DT.  I can affirm these truths with not too much problem, now.  But as I project into the future, how difficult will it be to say these statements and truly mean it. 
“Though no one comes to Bible Study, and people start to criticize my messages, though the staff become disgruntled and start to rebel and become apostate, though no one shows up to our campus fellowship, though Gracepoint Austin fails miserably, and I have to go back home to Berkeley, though my mind degrades, my health deteriorates, my children get chronically sick, my wife gets an incurable disease, my friends turn against me, I fall into financial ruin, my dad expresses his daily displeasure of me and disowns me, my sheep turn against me and no longer respond to me and give me their trust, …” 

Will I still be able to say ‘yet I will be joyful in God my savior’?’ How about even one of those calamities occurs in my life? How about minor ones like I get a traffic ticket, the weather continues to get hotter and hotter, my body gets fatigued, I get a particularly high bill in the mail, someone says a hurtful comment, some incident reveals my incompetence?

To say, ‘yet I will rejoice in the Lord,’ is truly a remarkable statement of faith. I think of the hall of faith, in Hebrews 11.

“Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated– 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.”

These people were stripped of the very things I mentioned.  This statement is one that is born out of a deep struggle, a daily putting faith Him, a daily relinquishing of all hopes and expectations.  To say what Habakkuk says is to shed all other earthly expectations, to truly live with heaven in mind.  Paradise is not here.  And perhaps these difficulties arise in life in order to get me to this point where I can say, ‘Yet I will rejoice in the Lord’, to prepare me for heaven, to purify my desires, to live for Him alone.  

I think of __________ in her last days.  Throughout her life, she was constantly discontent.  There was never a moment when she was truly at peace and happy.  It was the reverse of this passage.  Though I have a nice home, a nice family, good, healthy kids, a loving group of friends, a church, viable income in America, nice cars, opportunities to vacation, YET I will complain, I will never be happy.   …

I think that is the greatest blessing to be in a position of Habakkuk.  It seems like such a tragic statement, and yet actually to be in the kind of position to actually make this statement means there was much struggle and squeezed out of that experience was this kind of pure, distilled faith.  I don’t know if I can make such a statement now, but one thing I do know is I want to be able to say that someday.  I know that it would be the greatest blessing to be able to say that one day.  And that is my prayer.  Lord, somehow through the experiences of life, may I be able to say this remarkable statement of faith, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord’.  That is my heart’s desire.  And I should then approach every setback, and difficulty and failure as an opportunity to have my faith distilled, to not expect much out of life here on earth, and to focus on heaven and my relationship with God my savior.