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Calmness in the Calamity

Sam Stringer

Nov 7, 2024

Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and
the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there 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; He will make
my feet like deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills. To the Chief Musician. With my stringed
instruments.
Habakkuk 3:17-19

About a week ago from the time I wrote this devotional, our family made a trip from seeing my wife’s siblings and
their families and drove from Des Moines, Iowa all the way back to Altoona, Pennsylvania, where I live, in one
sitting. That’s about a 14-hour drive and the older I get, the more it seems less of a chore and less of a bore
(probably because I’ve made peace with being a boring, aging man). That particular trip takes a person from the
slightly rolling but mostly flat farmlands of the Midwest and eventually ends them up in a mountainous, forested
area where there is nothing flat or farmed in my immediate vicinity Now, you can drive further and you’ll find
farmland; if you go an hour or two east, you’ll get to more rolling fields once again and you might think you’re back
in Iowa. It is a journey of change to say the least.

I remember moving here a little over a year ago and being in awe just about every direction I went. So many
beautiful views, deep forests, streams and lakes, ups and downs, just a different place. I like living here, and I’m not
putting down the Midwest by any means as it still feels like home to me, too. It was a process in getting here,
though, and to go back west, it’s nothing less either.

The book of Habakkuk is a process of coming to peace with God in tumultuous times. I recommend reading
through it as it has so much to teach a person about overcoming frustrations and resting in God’s plans and
provisions. Chapter Three of Habakkuk is really where we see so much of his attitude change in the book, and
most of it up until today’s verses (17-19) are a recounting of the things God has done in the past. It’s important to
revisit how God has helped us, and therefore, it would serve us well that we take time to write things down lest we
forget. The Israelites did this numerous times in plentiful ways, putting reminders all over the place so they
remembered the God who had taken care of them before. Many times this came at the instruction of God because
He knew they needed those reminders, too.

If we’re not careful, we’ll forget what God has done for us, the difficulties He’s led us through and out of, the prayers
that were answered and the provisions that He gave. We are prone to complain rather than to count our blessings.
God gave Israel, and Habakkuk, quite the resume for why they should trust Him going forward; He has given you
and me an exquisite resume in our past for why we should trust Him, too. As I write this, I am currently job-seeking,
and it’s funny sometimes when you sit down to update your resume to realize all that you’ve experienced and
achieved along the way even around mid-life. God not only declares Himself to be trustworthy in His word, but He
proves and has proven His trustworthiness to all of His children.

Habakkuk comes to this winsome conclusion at the end of this prophetic book: it’s going to be okay. It’s going to
be okay even if everything falls to pieces, even if the trees don’t produce fruit or the animals are gone. It’s going to
be okay no matter what because God is in control of anything and everything that’s going to happen. This moves
him to his response: “I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” God will be his strength, not his
bank account, not his health, not his relationships, not his job, nothing but God. When we stop trying to find our
strength in God, we tend to grasp for all those things that never could provide rest for the soul, that weren’t made to
bear that kind of weight.

God gave Habakkuk the ability to walk in treacherous places with confidence and grace. You know what? God will
give you that, too, if you can make peace with your circumstances and let God be your strength. Being braver than
lions comes from falling back on the God who has already done so much to earn your trust. You can fear the future,
or you can rehearse the blessings of the past to inform the path going forward. Be wise. Be blessed.

Sam Stringer

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All
rights reserved.
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