The Approaching Hope of Habakkuk

So I’ll admit, the last post was a bit of an exercise in tone. Some of the most informative sites I’m reading seem to specialize in a cynical and pessimistic tone. Unfortunately, most of these sites have been an excellent predictor of the increasingly wobbly economy. Certainly better than the commoditized status quo of CNN/Fox, and just about anything is better than the Rah-Rah of CNBC. So I wanted to try my hand a bit.

However, “to the bitter end” conveys an excessively worldly approach on it’s own. So I figured I’d round it out with a little absolute Truth. Fortunately, Chris’ sermon on Sunday provided excellent material.

Habakkuk 3:17 Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, [though] the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls,18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the [victorious] God of my salvation! 19 The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]! For the Chief Musician; with my stringed instruments.

Personally, I think “the bitter end” of what we’re doing is going to ultimately a good thing. Our failed experiment in government-god, fueled by cheap debt and energy, has left us much worse off than we know. It’s time to end it and start being human again, for better or worse.

And, no..this is not some nihilist view that it’s all about to go to crap and never come back. It’s not even a Christian view that we’re in the end times and that it’s all going to crap in preparation for the second coming (although the blood red oil in the gulf, frogs in Greece, earthquakes, etc. do look very end-times-ish).

History is chock full of “bitter ends”, followed up with rebuilding periods of varying lengths and implications. If we are indeed about to see one as I think, it will be an extraordinary opportunity to build something better. And besides, no amount of socioeconomic junk has ever stopped the cause of Christ…even when people have tried to stamp His name on it.

Through it all, God is sovereign and we can and will rejoice in the Lord. No matter what happens we know who’s running the show. And our cup is always overflowing.