Huge Hope: Major Power in the Minor ProphetsSample

“And yet.”

This is one of the most powerful phrases a follower of God can have in their back pockets. It’s certainly a concept we see Habakkuk employ to close out his three-chapter book of the Bible.

The final chapter of Habakkuk is a prayer that lasts 18 verses. It seems as though Habakkuk and his nation are under oppression by a mightier military power (referred to as the “Chaldeans” earlier in the book), and Habakkuk is praying for God to deliver them. He implores God to save them, and sets his own heart to waiting for that deliverance.

And then he wraps it all up with a big “And yet” kind of idea, which we read in verses 17 and 18:

“Though the fig tree does not blossom and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation.”

Habakkuk refuses to look at his current circumstances and see anything other than hope. He sees the material conditions that all indicate that things are bad, but he says, “Nope, I refuse. I will still rejoice in the Lord.”

“And yet.”

Things are never what they seem, and God is never not in control. We can still rejoice in the Lord, no matter what.

What will you rejoice in today... and yet?