May 21 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

Life certainly has its challenges! It is not always as neat and tidy as we would like it to be. The very things we thought were under our control can quickly unravel so that we find ourselves in difficulty and sadness. We can be left with many questions that have the potential of upsetting us, hindering our joy and putting us at odds with each other. When we run up against the difficulties of life and the wheels seem to be falling off, when disease or death hits, when sickness overtakes us or we are battling a particular sin, what then?

In this life you are bound to face challenges you never anticipated. That’s when you are to remember a word of extreme importance, a small word that puts it all into perspective: Yet! “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” If you truly believe the significance of the word yet you have removed the stress factor out of your life. The prophet Habakkuk learns to understand this during a very difficult period in history. Habakkuk is distressed and very discouraged by what he sees happening in the world and in the church. He works among a people who do not seem to care about the Lord. Habakkuk is seriously traumatized and flummoxed. His body trembles, his lips quiver, his steps totter. His nation is about to be invaded and what will that do to the church? He struggles with the injustice he sees happening around him. And yet he rejoices in the Lord! Habakkuk confesses that, even though he could be faced with the darkest picture a person could ever know, he is able to rejoice. There is no place for bitterness.

When life throws you a curve ball, you can still rejoice because you have a rock-solid God! Circumstances may never change for the better—they didn’t for Habakkuk. In fact, they got worse before they got better. But there is reason to rejoice when you know the Lord will intervene and turn affliction to your benefit, even when you least expect it. What should you do when times are difficult and you feel like putting the bedcovers over your head? The answer is not in changing the circumstance but in waiting to see what the LORD has in store. The words of Habakkuk point you forward. What a phenomenal motto for life—yet! You do not have to go through life looking like you have been chewing on a lemon. You can rejoice because you know that God is in charge. You have a Saviour who allows you to see the meaning and purpose of life. No matter what happens, remember the Lord has inserted an all-important word into your circumstances—yet!