“Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the flocks disappear from the pen and there are no herds in the stalls, yet I will celebrate in the Lord; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! The Lord my Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights!” (Habakkuk 3:18-19).

One word can change the direction, can’t it?

The beginning of these verses sound so hopeless. And then Habakkuk says, “…yet” meaning nevertheless, in spite of all that, “…I will celebrate in the Lord!” And this is a great reminder (or lesson) for all of us.

What are you going to do when things don’t go your way? When things look different than you hoped or thought they’d look? Will you fall apart in a crisis? Or, will you look around and say nevertheless– my God is good and He is for me and this too shall pass!?

Options

The Lord gave us the freedom, right, and power to choose. In other words, you have an option. The Bible is clear: you can choose to follow the flesh or put your faith in God. One definition of “flesh” defines it as the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit. When I read that, I thought wow, but we aren’t without the Holy Spirit (unless we are without Christ and unsaved).

In other words, we may have options but we aren’t without help– help to choose, help to see rightly, help to live higher than our surroundings.

Habakkuk said, “The Lord my Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights!” Hannah Hurnard wrote a classic called “Hinds’ Feet on High Places” that paints such a beautiful picture of this truth. It’s a story of endurance despite challenges and how following Christ strengthens us day by day until we realize what once was weak is now strong in Him.

I’m so glad that despite many opportunities to give up or back down, I stayed the course with Christ. When I look back on where I started or different aspects of my journey thus far, I can say like Habakkuk, “The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]!” (Habakkuk 3:19 AMPC).

Even If…

The Passion says, “Even if my fig trees do not blossom and my vines grow no grapes, if my olive crop fails and my fields produce no harvest…” I know what I’ll choose: the Lord.

This reminds me of the words of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in answer to King Nebuchadnezzar’s threats to kill them if they didn’t bow in worship to him: “O king, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from your hand. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:16-18).

Even if God doesn’t show up like we know He can (is able to), we still won’t bow to the enemy of fear. This is faith! In other words, when trials and situations appear to be winning, we won’t be moved or shaken by it. We know Who we belong to. We know He is more than able to deliver us even if it looks different than how we thought it was going to look!

We win no matter what!

I remember a time in the early years of my marriage when money was very tight and we were days away from payday. I only had food for one more meal in my kitchen. I looked at the can of beans tempted to feel discouraged but decided right then that it was WIN-WIN. I stood in my kitchen and say out loud, “Devil, we’re either going to eat this last meal and die and go to Heaven, OR my God is going to show up and provide– but it’s win-win either way!” And obviously, I’m still here because just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, my God showed up!

So let this encourage you today– you get to choose your response.

When faith is your choice, watch what God can do! May your response always be: Yet will I praise Him!