The beginning of the end

I will stand at my watchpost,
and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so that a runner may read it.
For it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
it will surely come, it will not delay.

I hear, and I tremble within;
my lips quiver at the sound.
Rottenness enters into my bones,
and my steps tremble beneath me.
I wait quietly for the day of calamity
to come upon the people who attack us.
Trust and Joy in the Midst of Trouble

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.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
and makes me tread upon the heights.

Habakkuk 2:1-3; 3:16-19

This passage speaks to me of hope, of endurance – and of the essence of faith. Not the “faith” which says “I have faith in God and therefore everything will turn out easy and comfortable” but the faith of Christ, who on the cross, having cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” then, as He breathes His last, says “Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit”.

That is the faith that we read of here, when Habakkuk, who sees no hope humanly speaking, proclaims:
…yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will exult in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
and makes me tread upon the heights.

In this Advent season, no matter how deep our darkness, may God grant us the faith that proclaims with Habakkuk “yet I will rejoice in the Lord”.
And may that faith light us up with the light of Christ, that we might shine as beacons in a dark world.

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