Praising the God of Our Salvation

 I am afraid that most of us have a very finite way of thinking about life. We put all of the emphasis on how long we will live on this earth and how much we can do while we are here. Let me just say once and for all that is a very inaccurate way to look at life. Every person who is born into this world will live forever after their birth. We will live in heaven after our earthly death if we have a personal relationship with Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We will live forever in the Lake of Fire if we have rejected God's revelation of Himself to us and Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Therefore, our perspective on life should look at things in an eternal way, not a finite way.

The prophet Habakkuk knew this so very well. He expressed it perfectly in one of my favorite passages in the whole Bible. (Habakkuk 3:17,18) "Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation." I pray we will all see his testimony here, and we will have a testimony that is very much like his.

None of us can forgive our own sins. No one can earn eternal life in heaven, Salvation is a gift from God once we turn to Jesus in repentance, believing He is the only one who can save us, and trusting Him to forgive us and be the Lord of our life. Once we do that, every day is a great day. Every day puts us just one day closer to being in the perfect place called heaven to be with Him and others who know Him forever. What a blessing! Why would we ever be depressed and not be rejoicing in the Lord, who provided this eternal salvation for us? Every day is a day to be joyful in the God of our salvation.

So, we can see from this that joy and rejoicing are not based on our life circumstances. It is not about how much money we make, or how many possessions we have. It is not about the world situation around us. Everything around us and in our lives can be going wrong, like Habakkuk said, but we still have a very real reason to rejoice in the Lord and to be joyful. That is an eternal perspective on life, but it will also help us in this life on earth, because the Bible tells us, "The joy of the Lord is our strength." Therefore, living in this joy will give us God's strength to live a better life here and now, too,

Tomorrow, I intend to read Zephaniah 1-3 and Haggai 1-2.