Fig Trees and Sheep

At the beginning of the year I realized it had been a couple years since I had spent any time in the minor prophets. While I knew it would not take all year I decided to devote some of 2025 to these short, but rich, books. As I have made my way through this section of scripture, I have been reminded that one of my favorites is Habakkuk. While the name can be hard to say, I find the message incredibly relevant to modern readers. In the book there is a fascinating back and forth of the prophet questioning why God is silent in the face of injustice and God answering how He plans to deal with it. The answers, from a human perspective, are often unexpected and disheartening. After all the acts of judgement, all the unexpected answers, there is a beautiful prayer from Habakkuk in 3:17-19 to close out the book

"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. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights."

Reading the prayer again, the agrarian nature of the culture does not always resonate well with me. Figs and grapes and sheep are not how I measure security and national prosperity. What would my list look like? What would make yours? What are those things we hold on to tightly to define blessing or God's goodness? Is it health? Family? The stock market? A job? If it were all taken away tomorrow, would I land in the faith of Habakkuk with rejoicing and joyful in God my Savior?

There are times I marvel at the faith of the pre-messianic followers of God. Post crucifixion and resurrection we have the Spirit of God and we're invited to live life with God, and yet sometimes the slightest inconvenience challenges our faith. Yet Habakkuk lived and prophesied toward end of the southern kingdom's tailspin toward exile. He was watching the end of the nation of God's chosen people. Yet amongst that chaos and turmoil, he declared that God was his savior; he stated resolutely that he would rejoice in Him, even in the midst of economic, personal, and national ruin.

As i reflect on the meaning of Easter, as I contemplate the state the world in which we live, Habakkuk gives me hope. Not in the world, but in the God he followed, the same one we can call Father. Habakkuk stood at the end of an era, questioning God and His justice. God in turn gave him a vision beyond what his physical eyes could see. When all he saw before him looked to be death, wickedness, and the end of nation, Habakkuk was shown that God was, and is, playing the long game. In his earthly days he never saw the ultimate fulfillment that came in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God, but he resolutely trusted the God that would bring it fruition.

As we remember what Jeus did all those years ago, may we remember that it may be finished but He's not through. May we rejoice in him even if all around us looks like death, wickedness, and the end of an era. For He is still working, in many ways unexpected, to make all things new.

He is risen!