For weeks now the proper greeting among friends has been “HAPPY NEW YEAR!”
I have a question for you. Are you going to have a happy New Year or a blessed New Year?
The Old Testament prophet Habakkuk dealt with this question In Habakkuk 3:17,18.
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines.
The labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat.
The flock shall 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.”
The question arises then how did the prophet deal with difficulties in his life, some of which we may face in this coming year? He put them in their proper place: subservient to the God that he loved and that loved him. The flip side of this coin is the question, how do you deal with the difficulties and near tragedies in your life? They are all there or will be there in one form or another until you take your last breath! The answer is very clear. All of these good things we enjoy are transient, and they could all be gone tomorrow. If you cannot side with the prophet and rejoice in the Lord and joy in the God of your salvation as he did, even in loss, then you have a real problem. Because the same problems he faced might be just around the corner waiting for you. You face them as did Habakkuk and renew your trust in God.
The issue here is not whether we have or do not have, God really wants us to have, but to have things in their proper place and to have God in his proper place.
You can have a happy New Year, or you can have a blessed New Year! The call is yours!
We will all have difficulties or near tragedies in life. They are all there or will be there in one form or another until you take your last breath! So how do we handle these problems that are coming? The answer is very clear. All of the good things in life are transient, and they could all be gone tomorrow. We must side with the prophet and rejoice in the Lord and joy in the God of our salvation as he did, even in loss. If this is not your course of action, then you have a real problem. Because the same problems he faced might be just around the corner waiting for you.
The issue here is not whether we have or do not have, God really wants us to have, but to have things in their proper place and to have God in his proper place.
You can have a happy New Year, or you can have a blessed New Year! The call is yours so put God in his proper place! If he is not there put him there today and you will never regret it!
The prophet Habakkuk suffered yet he won the victory and so may you.
My prayer is that you will have a blessed New Year!