JUDGEMENT AND JOY
I will not be posting a column during August, and the next column will be on Tuesday 7th September. It seems good to end the current series on a positive note, despite the seriousness of things happening around us. I am prompted to this by Habakkuk who struggled and grappled with the decadent state of his nation, and quivered at the threats God was making to it, and yet whose collected prophecies end on a note of joy. His words have resounded over many centuries now: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vine(marks of devastation and destruction)yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour....He enables me to go on the heights”. It’s much more than a “grin and bear it” attitude to trouble; it’s an embracing of the antidote of joy.
I will not be posting a column during August, and the next column will be on Tuesday 7th September. It seems good to end the current series on a positive note, despite the seriousness of things happening around us. I am prompted to this by Habakkuk who struggled and grappled with the decadent state of his nation, and quivered at the threats God was making to it, and yet whose collected prophecies end on a note of joy. His words have resounded over many centuries now: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vine(marks of devastation and destruction)yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour....He enables me to go on the heights”. It’s much more than a “grin and bear it” attitude to trouble; it’s an embracing of the antidote of joy.
Habakkuk had come to a point where the sources of human joy had dried up. Humanly there was very little to look forward to in the nation; quite the contrary. Pessimism and depression seemed the inevitable response to the natural situation. But there in front of him was the “joy of the Lord”. Like Nehemiah he found that the joy of the Lord was his strength.
What is the joy of the Lord? It is joy that springs from that assured knowledge that God is a living God, and that despite difficult present circumstances he offers a future, a hope and a present strength. It is a joy that comes from knowing that nothing can separate us from the love of God. There is a great deal of this sentiment in the prophetic writings: God’s love for his people, God’s love for the nations, God’s purposes of redemption, God’s present help and care.
It’s a joy, therefore, that is anchored in our faith in the love of God.
Perhaps one of the greatest expressions of this is to be found in another prophet, Zephaniah: “The lord your God is with you; he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing”. Zeph. 3:17
May God fill you with such joy! Refresh yourself in Him!
Bob
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