Though All Fail
Though All Fail
(#186 from Suffer Well Devotional Series?)
Though the fig tree does not blossom, and there is no fruit on the vine, the yield of the olive has failed, and the fields brought forth no food, the flock has been cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I exult in Yahweh, I rejoice in the Mighty One of my deliverance. Yahweh the Almighty is my strength. And He makes my feet like those of a deer, and makes me walk on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)
A sacrifice of praise is what You desire, O Yahweh. It is the key to the Kingdom, the only true Kingdom. It is the only Kingdom in which dwells the love of Yahweh. Perhaps if we stop to think it through, if we truly want to uncover the pattern, we might ponder that the need for any external satisfaction must come to an end in order for this internal fruit to blossom.
Does it not make sense that you gain more glory through deliverance than through earthly abundance? Oh that we would learn to embrace Your ways, and that our way of thinking would shift to Your way of thinking. How much sweeter is it to walk Your paths when we embrace Your patterns.
Try these on for size:
1. “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me ; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42)
2. “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)
3. “My doctrine is not Mine , but His who sent Me.” (John 7:16)
4. “For I have not spoken on My own authority ; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.” (John 12:49)
We so often perceive Your patterns as opposite of what You intend. What do You intend?
1. When we feel pain, You are joyous as You witness our growth.
2. When we cannot see the end, You stand there waiting for us.
3. When we cannot overcome, You rejoice in the victory You had planned all along.
Oh that we would truly perceive all things as good. May we believe, like Shaul (Paul), that You, Abba, would never let your children go.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor malakim , nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of the Mighty One which is in Yahshua the Messiah our Master. (Romans 8:38-39)
"Give us wisdom to see as You see. Enlarge our territory, not of land, but of our minds, so we would feel how easy the yoke and how light the burden is, because You are our portion. Take us beyond, Father, to the place where only the Spirit man resides; take us to a new consciousness, to a new day. Implant in us that which Habakkuk earned, this ever-present gift in his life, the sacrifice of praise. Even though all seems lost... 'yet I exult in Yahweh, I rejoice in the Mighty One of my deliverance.' Please, Yahweh, bring us to that place."