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DEVOTION//A Habakkuk Thanksgiving

DEVOTION//A Habakkuk Thanksgiving

Blog, Devotions

I could easily find things to grumble about this Thanksgiving Day. Here's my off-the-top-of-my-head list:

  • Covid continuing to threaten my loved ones

  • Disinformation and misinformation

  • Unloving social media posts -- by fellow Christians

  • The effects of our changing climate

  • Unruly protests

  • People taking the law into their own hands

  • Flagging worship attendance

  • Politicians who promote their political party over their country

I've got to stop. The list could run on for many more lines.

Unless I cut it short, Thanksgiving could become a day of bleating about the world rather than blessing its creator.

That's why I appreciate the Prophet Habakkuk. God revealed to him that the Babylonians would soon destroy Jerusalem. The carnage would be unimaginable. Yet the prophet refuses to shift his eyes from the LORD and his inalterable covenant of grace. Habakkuk describes some of what would happen (3:17,18):

  • Fig trees that don't bud

  • Grapevines without grapes

  • Olive trees without olives

  • Barren fields

  • Empty sheep pens and cattle stalls

But even when sickness, suffering, and starvation stalk him, the prophet maintains he will keep his focus on the LORD who promised he is "the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin" (Exodus 34:6,7).

Regardless of what has happened or what he is going through, Habakkuk says, "I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior."

That's where I want my focus to be on Thanksgiving Day -- on the God who loved me so much he became my Savior. I do not want my focus on what I wish were different in my life.

But one day of the year is not enough for this kind of thanksgiving. As Habakkuk teaches, I want my focus to be on the LORD every day.

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.

Habakkuk 3:17, 18