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Zion Bread of Life Christian Church

Habakkuk 3:17-19 A Joyful Life 哈巴谷書3:17-19 喜樂的人生

Thursday, 22nd February 2024

Rev Daniel Xi An Poon

V17 Contrary to Expectations 事與願違

“Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls.”

「雖然無花果樹不發旺，葡萄樹不結果，橄欖樹也不效力，田地不出糧食，圈中絕了羊，棚內也沒有牛。」

The joy we try to receive from this world will not last forever. It’s like how after the honeymoon, we need to face real life, and real life is cruel, it often breaks our faith in God. There were times we felt fire up for God, maybe it’s after we attended a conference, maybe it’s after listened to a worship song, maybe it’s after received a sermon… our hearts were pumped up and we wanted to do many things for God. But soon the world will want to drag us back to where we are, and our fire seem to be quenched.

As followers of Christ, we want to see our fig tree bear fruits, we want to receive fruits on the vine, and we want our flocks and herd to be abundant. But when nothing like this happens, what is our attitude? How do we face our God and how do we face our faith? Do we feel disappointed in God and in our church? In our mind, we think that a blessed person should have abundance, but what is it that we are looking at when we look at abundance?

V18 Wait Upon God in Faith 信心等候神

“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

「然而我要因耶和華歡欣，因救我的神喜樂。」

When we say we trust in God, how does our lives show? Do we still have joy in all things despite of the environment? Can we simply be joyful in the God of our salvation? God will not change, no matter what, no matter what the environment is, no matter how the people look at us, we can still be joyful, He is the God whos saves. We can wait upon Him, we can stay in faith and know that God is always there for us. Our faith in not in ourselves, not in our leaders, not in our government, but in the God of our salvation.

V19 The Lord God is My Strength 主耶和華是我的力量

“The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.”

「主耶和華是我的力量，他使我的腳快如母鹿的蹄，又使我穩行在高處。」

God is the Creator of the Heaven and Earth, He can make our feet like deer’s feet, we can run fast through out troubles and difficulties, the world puts us down, people around us disappoint us, but God can take us through all these. God can give us strength, even though the things around us might not be what we expected, we can walk through the valley of death because God is holding us up. He makes us walk on high hills and He protects us so we will not fall.

When things go smoothly in our lives, we will easy to forget about God, when we are in the high places, we become proud, we spend less time praying and reading the Bible. But when we fully rely on God, we rely on His strength, even when we are in the high places we can still stand firm. Because we are not prideful anymore, we know everything we have is from God. We don’t just feel joy because of our achievement, we can stay joyful because of our God.

We cannot make ourselves joyful, we cannot make anyone joyful, the truth is a joyful life is from God only. Everything we have is from God, the joy of the Lord is our strength. He chose us is for us to preach the goodness of going out of darkness and entering the light. We are the ambassador of Christ, to show everyone around us how Great our God is, full of wonders, and we can fully rely on Him.