Can you rejoice always?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:17-18

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

In Habakkuk’s day, there was an economic recession. There were no cows in the barn, no harvest in the fields. “Yet…” he writes. Oh, how I love that “yet” in verse 18. “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Where was his joy? In the Lord, not circumstances.

If circumstances are what gives you your joy, you can’t say “rejoice always,” because circumstances change. You might lose your job, your health, your friends, or your prestige. But Habakkuk said, “Yet will I joy in the God of my salvation.”

There’s one way to find out where you’re getting your joy. If it’s from your job, we can take your job and see if you still have joy. If it’s from your health, if your health fails, see if you still have joy.

ACTION POINT:

The only joy anyone can have is in the Lord, because He never changes. Your joy can be threatened if you get it anywhere else. It’s not wrong to have joy in your health, your job, or your friends. But that kind of joy can be threatened. You need a joy which supersedes earthly things. Psalm 16:11: says, “Thou will show me the path of life; in Thy presence is fullness of joy.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers