When There’s No Reason For Hope

After hoping that God would do something to fix the nation of Israel, and after learning from God that his “solution” is to have the nation suffer the destruction of a Babylonian invasion and conquest, the prophet Habakkuk is feeling unhappy and stressed. He concludes his book with a statement—or perhaps a prayer—for when nothing is going right, when everything is going wrong, and there doesn’t look to be anyway out and nothing about your circumstances make sense. This is for when you wonder where God is and why he has apparently forgotten you:

Though the fig tree does not bud

and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength;

he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

he enables me to tread on the heights. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

When all you have is your faith in God, that’s a hard place to be. But it’s okay. God is there, whether you can feel him or see him or recognize his hand at work in your life. He’s there even when you think he couldn’t possibly be. He’s there even when you’re certain that it’s hopeless.