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Rejoice in The Lord
| Bro Moses Komanya (Mwaanza, Tanzania)
“A
lthough the fig tree shall not blossom,
neither shall fruit be on the vines; the
labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields
shall yield no food, though the flock may 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)
A modern day Habakkuk might say, “Although
our crops are failing for lack of rain; inflation
has made feed so expensive we can’t feed the
flock; union wages are so high we can’t afford
to hire reapers; higher interest rates are
making it impossible to borrow money – and
even if we could harvest our crops we can’t
get enough for them to cover our expenses –
yet I will rejoice in the Lord.”
Most modern day Habakkuks would say all but
the last part. We don’t find many people
rejoicing in the Lord nowadays. We do find
people complaining about the stock market,
the high cost of sugar, the shortage of gaso-
line, the sluggishness of business and the high
unemployment, but we do not find them
expressing their joy in the God of their salva-
tion. Surely the lesson Habakkuk would have
us learn is that we are to rejoice in the Lord
in spite of the troubles we may be facing.
Most people simply moan and groan about
their troubles, but forget to find joy in the
God of their salvation.
How about us? Are we so full of the love of God
that it shines through, even when we are sick
or out of work? Do we recognise that the Lord
gives and the Lord takes away – “blessed be
the Name of the Lord.” How do we stand up
to the troubles that come our way? Whatever
trouble comes to us is allowed by God, else we
would not have it. Do we honestly believe that
“there has no temptation taken us but such as
is common to man and God is faithful and will
not allow us to be tempted above that which
we are able to bear”? But will the temptation
also make a way of escape that we may be
able to bear it? By studying the lives of the
faithful of other ages, we can get an insight
into how we should act when we are faced
with trials. We know that we are going to be
tried, for “whom the Lord loveth, He chas-
teneth and scourgeth every son whom He
receiveth.” Nehemiah had enemies within and
without, yet the work he was doing was
blessed by God. God could have struck all
Nehemiah’s enemies dead so that the wall
could be built without being hindered, but this
Bro Moses Komanya and Sister Wife of
Bro Mwanzogolo in Mikumi Ecclesia