Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

Yet I Will Rejoice {No Matter What Monday}

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We’ve been taking a journey this month with the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk. He’s pleaded with God to relieve his suffering, heard a troubling answer, reminded himself of God’s character, and received comforting promises from his God. The book of Habakkuk concludes with a beautiful prayer of trust and hope that Habakkuk wrote to be sung by God’s people in worship. 

After remembering God’s faithfulness to His people throughout their history, Habakkuk ends his prayer with these words: 

“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, 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 3:17-19)

These verses sounds strange to our modern ears . . . no figs or olive oil? Problems with the flock? But this is describing a natural disaster of huge proportions for an ancient, agrarian society. For Habakkuk, if the trees don’t blossom and the flock is gone, there is no food. Habakkuk is saying, “Even if the world falls apart and I lack basic necessities like food, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.” 

What’s your “even if”? If the cancer comes back . . . if you never get married . . . if you suffer another miscarriage . . . if your prodigal child never returns home . . . if your relationship with your estranged family member never improves . . . yet we will rejoice in the Lord, we will take joy in the God of our salvation. 

Habakkuk isn’t trusting that his circumstances are going to get better – he’s trusting who God is, no matter what. He knows God can and will keep all His promises. He knows God is ruling and reigning over all things. The Lord is his strength as he seeks to live by faith, remembering that the One who’s been faithful in the past will be faithful throughout Habakkuk’s uncertain future. 

No matter what you face this week, find your joy and your strength in the faithful Lord. 

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God Can and Will Keep His Promises {No Matter What Monday}

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This month we’re looking at a conversation between a prophet and God in the book of Habakkuk. Last week, we saw Habakkuk cry out to God in his suffering. God answered that He is at work in the situation, but Habakkuk’s circumstances would get worse before they got better (Habakkuk 1:1-11). Habakkuk reminds himself of the truth of God’s character and then waits with eager expectation to hear how God will respond (Habakkuk 2:1). 

“And the LORD answered me: ‘Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. ‘Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.’” (Habakkuk 2:2-4)

This phrase—the righteous shall live by his faith—is quoted three times in the New Testament (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:37-38). When we take all of these passages together, we see that the faith mentioned here ultimately points to faith in Jesus Christ.  

When we live by faith, we believe that God’s promises are true. We believe that Jesus Christ has battled our worst enemies—sin, evil, and death—and He is victorious. 

God put His power on display in the death and resurrection of Jesus—He has the power to deliver on His promises. 

And while we were His enemies, Christ laid down His life for us (Romans 5:8). He loves us, and we are His—He can be trusted to deliver on His promises. 

So as Habakkuk lives out God’s exhortation to “wait for it” in verse 3, he can take comfort knowing that God can and will deliver on His promises. This is how the righteous live by faith: we believe that God’s promises are true while we wait for His purposes to unfold. 

No matter what you face this week, you can have faith that God can and will keep all His promises to you. 

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You are Justified by Faith {No Matter What Monday}

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I’m really showing off my geek badge here, but it’s true: I love editing. I can’t read anything without wanting to pull out a red pen, eliminate the word clutter, fix the grammatical mistakes, and improve the writing in any way I can. I even self-edit text messages before sending them. (Don’t worry, I don’t edit other people’s texts!) 😉 

When I read Galatians 2:16, I want to reach for my red pen. Paul seems to be running around in circles, saying the same thing over and over: 

“Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” (Galatians 2:16)

We’re not justified by works but by faith . . . And we have believed, so we are justified . . . Oh, and did I mention that it’s by faith in Christ and not by works? . . . Right, because no one can be justified by the works of the law. Ok, Paul! We get it! 

Why isn’t Paul being more concise? Did he forget to run this letter by his editor? 

I think Paul is being wordy and repetitive on purpose. He knows we will read this and mentally agree with it, but then an hour later we’ll be out there acting like it’s up to us to earn God’s favor. It’s so ingrained in our human nature to think our value depends on our performance. 

This is good news we need to hear over and over and over again: We are justified through faith in Christ and not by works of the law. To be justified means we are declared righteous by God. He looks at Jesus and sees His perfect record of righteousness. Based on His perfection, we are declared righteous. We could never earn this righteousness, but God gives it to us as a free gift of His grace. 

If you didn’t earn it, you can’t lose it. Justification by faith is a certainty we can cling to even when we fall short, mess up, or even fail miserably. 

No matter what you face this week, you are justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. 

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His Power is Strong {No Matter What Monday}

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We saw last week in Mark 4 that Jesus led His disciples into a storm on the Sea of Galilee. As the waves threatened and Jesus performed a miracle, the disciples learned more about their weakness and His strength. 

“And [Jesus] awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’” (Mark 4:39-41)

The disciples’ faith was weak. They knew where to turn in their troubles—they ran to Jesus. But their fear of the storm’s power outweighed their confidence in Jesus’s presence. Can you imagine that moment when Jesus calmed the sea and then called them out for their fear and doubt? 

But the disciples’ weak faith put Jesus’s strength on display. When He spoke to the wind and the waves, there was immediate and complete calm on the sea. The disciples had seen Him heal diseases and cast out demons, and yet they were amazed and asked themselves: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”  I would imagine that their fear turned to faith and their confidence in Christ grew. 

Maybe today you’re in the middle of the storm of suffering, and God hasn’t stilled the wind and the waves yet. You’ve pleaded and begged, but the storm still rages. I don’t know why you’re suffering, but I do know this: God will use your suffering to show you more of your weakness and send you running to Him for strength. In His perfect timing, He will speak peace to the waves that threaten to drown you, and you will arrive on the shore with greater confidence in His power. 

No matter what you face this week, when your faith is weak, His power is strong. 

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