BY: Sir Godfrey Gregg

Day Four: Giving Thanks in the Dark

Scripture: Habakkuk 3:17–19

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”

Reflection:

Habakkuk faced a crisis of faith. The prophet had cried out to God about the injustice and violence in Judah, and God had answered—but the answer was not what Habakkuk expected. God was going to use the Babylonians, a wicked and ruthless nation, to judge His own people. The prophet was stunned. How could a holy God use such unholy instruments?

The book of Habakkuk records his wrestling with God, his honest questions, his persistent pleading. And then, in chapter three, we find his response—not a resolution of all his questions but a decision of faith that transcends them.

The circumstances he describes are catastrophic. Every source of food and income has failed. The fig tree, the vine, the olive, the fields, the flock, the herd—all gone. For an agricultural society, this is complete devastation. This is not a bad day at the office; this is the collapse of everything.

And into this picture of utter loss, Habakkuk speaks his stunning declaration: “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”

The word “yet” is one of the most powerful words in Scripture. It marks the turning point, the pivot, the moment when faith asserts itself against the evidence of circumstances. Everything is gone—yet I will rejoice. Everything has failed—yet I will take joy. Everything is dark—yet I will praise.

Notice that Habakkuk’s joy is not in the crops or the flocks. Those are gone. If his joy depended on them, his joy would be gone too. His joy is in the Lord—the unchanging, eternal, faithful God who is the same in famine as in plenty, in darkness as in light.

This is the kind of faith that sustains us when everything else fails. It is the faith that says, “Though I lose everything, I have not lost God. And having God, I have everything.” It is the faith that rejoices not because of circumstances but in spite of them.

Habakkuk ends with a beautiful image: “God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” Even in the midst of devastation, God gives strength to climb. He enables us to walk on heights that would otherwise be inaccessible. He lifts us above our circumstances so we can see beyond them.

What “fig trees” are barren in your life right now? What “fields” have failed? What “flocks” have been cut off? Whatever your loss, the God of Habakkuk is your God. He is still faithful. He is still good. He is still worthy of your praise. “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD.”

Journal: What would it mean for you to “yet rejoice in the LORD” today? What circumstances are tempting you to despair, and how might you lift your eyes beyond them to God?

Practice: Name one difficult circumstance and thank God that He is your strength in it. Write down a “yet” statement of your own: “Though ______, yet I will rejoice in the LORD.”

Prayer: Lord, I confess that my joy often depends on my circumstances rather than on You. When things go well, I praise You; when they go badly, I complain. Teach me the faith of Habakkuk—the faith that rejoices in You even when everything else is gone. Be my strength when I am weak, my joy when I am sorrowful, my hope when all seems lost. In Jesus’ name, Amen.