October 10, 2021 · Habakkuk 3:17–18

Even Then Refrain

“We don't need to fear when something negative appears. God is near. And that's what I think he's preparing us for. I hope this is what we learn out of this time: "Okay, I'm going to trust him. God, you'll get me through this, whatever's happening." And then that leads us to the second thing. I don't know if I can get to this stage unless I do the first one. That's why I've been talking about learning to trust. I think it's so important. Because once you're able to trust, then you can thank him in all circumstances. Even then. Even in the midst of famine, even when the crops stop, even when the fields don't yield, even when your grapes are withered, when you don't have any cereal to put in your bowl in the morning — when all this is gone, you can still be thankful to God. You know why? Our thankfulness to God is based on his goodness, not our circumstances. Does that make sense? "I'm thankful to you, God, because you are good. No matter what, I know that's who you are. My circumstances are not a demonstration of whether you're good or not. You're good no matter what." And if I can thank you in that — and I've got to say, there's been times I've been very worried, or terrified, or I was upset with God. I'm like, "God, why can't we meet in person? Why is this happening? God, I'm worried who's going to come back to church." If I just stopped for a moment, and instead of doing that, I stopped, and: "God, thank you for —" I went through that. It changes everything for me. "Thank you for my family." Oh my goodness, how blessed am I. "Thank you for my church family." How do I make sure that, in the midst of all of this, I go, "Okay, God, you're giving me my child. You've given me — you've showed up in the darkest times. I've seen it before. God, I thank you.”