Day of National Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 27, 2008
The Rev. Charles Henrickson
“Though the Fig Tree Should Not Blossom” (Habakkuk 3:17-19)
About thirty years ago, I decided to go backpacking in the Sierra Mountains of
California, in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park. I had some cousins who
lived in Fresno, which is not too far away, so I went out there and stayed with
them for a couple days before heading up to the mountains. They had an
above-ground swimming pool in their back yard, and I remember swimming around
in this pool, and there were some trees right alongside the edge of the pool,
within arm’s reach. They were fig trees--at least I think they were fig trees,
I always get figs and dates mixed up. So here I am, on a nice sunny California
day, swimming around in a swimming pool, picking figs right off a fig tree and
popping them into my mouth--and they were delicious! Now for a city boy from
the streets of Chicago, this was kind of a rare treat! I tell you, it was easy
to be thankful to God for his many blessings on a day like that, swimming in a
swimming pool, picking figs
off the fig tree.
But the question comes: What about when there is no swimming pool and there
are no figs to pick? Can we still thank God on those days? Because, to be
honest with you, there are a whole lot more days that are Midwest overcast than
there are California sunny, more days with achy knees than with legs young
enough to go backpacking in the mountains, more days popping pills by the sink
than popping figs by the pool. On days like these, can we still give thanks to
God?
Let’s ask Habakkuk. Habak-who? Habakkuk. You know him, don’t you? He’s got
a whole book named after him in the Bible. Well, it’s not a very long book.
Only three chapters. And at the tail end of that book, Habakkuk talks about
giving thanks to God, rejoicing in the Lord, “Though the Fig Tree Should Not
Blossom.” How Habakkuk can say that will give us something to think about--and
thank about--on this Thanksgiving Day.
Habakkuk was a prophet who lived in Judah about 600 years before Christ. These
were really the closing years for Judah as a nation, before the Babylonians
would sweep in and defeat them and destroy Jerusalem and take the people off
into captivity in Babylon. Rough times were on the horizon, and as a prophet,
Habakkuk could see it. The Lord let him know what was in store for Judah, and
the thought of the coming destruction and devastation caused Habakkuk great
perplexity. How could the Lord let this happen? When a pagan nation like
Babylon sweeps in and conquers a people, bad things are sure to happen:
violence, death, economic ruin, physical devastation. Not much to be thankful
for in that list. More like a recipe for disaster.
Maybe you are perplexed by rough times, too. The death of loved ones.
Lingering disease or sickness. Advancing age. Economic setbacks. What is
there to be thankful about there? And beyond our individual fortunes, this is
supposed to be a Day of National Thanksgiving. My goodness, if you’ve been
following the news this year, it sounds like there’s absolutely nothing to be
thankful for! Talk about economic setbacks! Story after story about this or
that financial institution failing, the stock market crashing, the economy in
ruins, jobs lost. Mortgage crisis, recession, bailouts, the taxpayers on the
hook. Everybody is worried. People are afraid. Anxiety seems to be at an
all-time high. Anxiety in this case can be defined as fear about what might
happen, even more so than about what has already happened. Anxious hearts find
it hard to be thankful.
Well, as I say, this is nothing new. 2600 years ago Habakkuk was having
similar thoughts when considering what might happen to his nation. And in his
case, they really would happen! Babylon would come in and devastate Judah.
Ruin and misery would result. Listen to the distress in Habakkuk’s voice: “O
Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? . . . Destruction
and violence are before me. . . .” This is what Habakkuk could see looming on
the horizon, and it was not pretty.
But as a prophet of God, Habakkuk could see through that gloomy forecast and
see God’s saving purpose and long-range plan at work. God’s mighty--and
sometimes mysterious--hand was at work in these strange and perplexing times.
The Lord answered Habakkuk’s complaint: “Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not
believe if told.” You see, even when it looks like God doesn’t know what he’s
doing, that he’s not being a very good God and that we would do a much better
job of it if we were God--when we begin to doubt God’s goodness and wisdom, he
reminds us that we are not in charge of things, he is, and he knows what he is
doing.
And so God had a plan at work even in the midst of the coming devastation
brought on by Babylon. The Lord would work things out for his eternal saving
purpose--even if seeing the end and outcome of that plan would have to wait.
Salvation is coming; your deliverance is on the way, people of God. Waiting
and weeping may last for a while, but I have not forgotten my promises,
declares the Lord. The Lord answers Habakkuk: “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.”
Trusting in the Lord’s promise, even though it means waiting--this is how you
will endure the tough times. “The righteous shall live by his faith,” Habakkuk
famously writes. And it’s as true now as it was then. Back then, the people
of Judah had to wait 70 years for the end of the Babylonian Captivity. And
then it would be another 500 years till the coming of the promised deliverer,
the Messiah. But Habakkuk did see that salvation coming. He prays to the
Lord: “You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of
your anointed.” Yes, God has not forgotten his people; he has not forgotten
his promise.
That promise would be fulfilled, of course, in the coming of the Christ--our
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the salvation of God come in the flesh. He, Christ,
is the answer to all our anxiety. He is the Yes and Amen to all of God’s
promises. For what is this salvation that has come in Christ? It is
forgiveness for all of our sins, our sins which deserve God’s judgment. That
judgment fell on Christ, on the cross, in our place. It is righteousness that
avails before God, righteousness to stand in the Day of Judgment, at the Last
Day. It is healing for all of our woes--our achy knees and our aching souls.
We may have to wait on the knees, but there is rest for our souls even now as
we come to Jesus. This salvation that has come in Christ--it is the
resurrection of our bodies, restored and glorified, fit for eternity, the
eternal life we will enjoy with our Lord in glory, along with Habakkuk and
Hosea and Haggai and all those guys from way back
when, as well as saints of more recent vintage, like the grandpa who went with
you to church or the old lady with the warbly voice who sat in the pew behind
you when you were a kid. They’ll all be there, with you, giving thanks forever
to our gracious God and Savior. And we’ll all be enjoying figs from the fig
trees that grow twelve months a year along the river of the water of life in
the New Jerusalem.
And that is why, my friends--that is why Habakkuk can write, and you can say
with him:
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.
Charles Henrickson
4749 Melissa Jo Ln
St. Louis, MO 63128
(314) 845-8811 (home)
(314) 779-8108 (cell)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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