“Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield
no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls …”
(Habakkuk 3:17, ESV).
There are seasons in our life when the
expected doesn’t come: when the joy of relationship is not rewarded with
continuance but separation, when the time of harvest after a lifetime of work
yields ill health or eventually the loss of the one we love. The blossom is supposed to signal
fruit. The vine is supposed to bring forth full,
flavorful grapes and olives to enjoy. The
fields are supposed to produce food and work is supposed to increase the herds
of cattle and sheep. This is the
expected but sometimes the vine is barren and pens are empty. Beyond the metaphor: it is expected that
relationships are supposed to go on, fathers and husbands are supposed to
always be there to take care of us, mothers and wives are the sure thing that
we can always depend on to nurture and love us.
True friendships are expected to secure and lasting. Even if these relationships are solid and
supportive, vital and consistent; they are not eternal in a fallen world. They can be taken from us through sickness,
old age and numerous other ways.
We can value them, trust in them and
even treasure them but there will come a time in every relationship when the
relationship can be severed though loss and separation. The
vine will become barren. The solidness
and expectedness of the harvest from the vine comes up empty. What is gone is the physical presence of the
one we love yet the significant presence of their lives that is interwoven with
our lives is tugging at our emotions, trying to draw us to the one we love, who is
gone. God gave us these relationships and they blessed us richly in countless
ways. Now we ache because it hurts so deeply to have those relationships
severed.
Still even here, even now, even in the middle of our sorrow in this the
barren season as these relationships have changed, God is with us. At the time of
our losses, He comes to us and He stays the duration, healing the pain of those
losses. God is with us on the journey
through the issues of loss, even as our lives are changing; without our consent
or approval. We really don’t how to navigate the journey. Even though our lives have changed, He is the
rock we can stand on. He is the
foundation and guarantee that enables us to go beyond the barren place on this
vine of life. God meets us in the barren
places and He will guide us through the valley to the promises beyond it.
We can go beyond grief because of the
faithfulness of God to us. God is a strength beyond all the losses and pain in
this life. In the times of separation and loss, we can know and find comfort in
the constant way that Jesus comes to abide with us as he promised. Our lives will
change in all our losses but Christ is
there with us faithfully, unchanging in His love and salvation.
“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will
take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my
feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places” (Habakkuk 3:18-19,
ESV).
Suggested Reading … Habakkuk 3
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