No sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. (Hab. 3:17–19)
Sixteen small sack lunches were lined up and ready for the children to grab as they walked in the door. Various lunch meats and condiments were spread on a table alongside other nutritious snacks and fruit. Church members eagerly awaited the arrival of these sixteen children.
As the children came and entered the modest fellowship hall, the church members surrounded them with nurturing hands. All summer long, the kids had come to get fed what might be their only nutritious meal of the day. In their homes, their cupboards might have been lacking and their meals sparse, but the children could be joyful. Help had come by God's people doing something.
In Habakkuk's day, this was not the case. Habakkuk longed for a salvation, rescue, and revival he would never see. He questioned why God's reviving power delayed. Habakkuk cried out, “Though . . . 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” (vv. 17–18). Habakkuk said these things because he knew that, even though it seemed that evil had gained a victory in his day, that a day would come when evil would be rolled back.
Consider how a church empowered by God’s Spirit fulfills Habakkuk’s dream.
A. Knepp
© 2023 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
