"Worship While You Wait" by Margaret Slaughter

“Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord!  I will be joyful in the God of my salvation.” –Habakkuk 3:17-18

 

Have you ever been in a place in your life where nothing seems to be going right?  As the old saying goes, you take one step forward, and are pushed two steps back.  You make a little progress but as soon as you get ahead, something happens and drags you back to what seems even further than where you started.  We’ve all been there.  The question is, how do we get through it?  We worship while we wait!


In this prayer by the prophet Habakkuk, although he lists all the reasons he has not to believe everything will turn out ok, he begins each phrase with ‘even though’.  Even though means despite the fact that “the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; . . . the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; . . . the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord!”  I won’t hold on to what my eyes see.  I will walk in faith, and worship while I wait.  God has not promised us an easy, rose filled road, but He has promised that His word will not return void – “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11 NKJV).  So, if God has made you a promise, no matter what it looks like, worship while you wait!

Margaret Slaughter