Jubilation in Desolation

By G. Campbell Morgan

For though the fig tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labour of
the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no meat; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And
there shall be no herd in the stalls; Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my
salvation. Habakkuk 3:17, 18

This is an arresting text. There is rhythm in its movement and a vividness in its description
which compel our attention, yet that which is most impressive is the contrast between the
conditions described and the experience claimed. The conditions are these:

For though the fig tree shall not blossom,

Neither shall fruit be in the vines;
The labour of the olive shall fail,
And the fields shall yield no meat;
The flock shall be cut off from the fold,
And there shall be no herd in the stalls.

And the experience is this:

Yet will I rejoice in the Lord,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The earlier part of the text constitutes one of the dreariest pictures man ever drew. To
summarize in a word, it is the picture of a scene of desolation. Yet that is preliminary, it is the
introduction to something that is to follow. As we read the statement through, we find that the
figure in the foreground is radiant and exultant, and all the dreariness in the background serves
but to fling up into clear relief this figure in the foreground. As we proceed, we discover that the
dirge is but the prelude to a plan, and if we summarize the conditions by the one word
"desolation," we may express the experience by the one word "jubilation." This is the mystery,
the arresting wonder of the text, that these two things are brought together, jubilation in the midst
of desolation. If we were reading this for the first time, or if we found it in any other literature
than this, we should be driven to inquire, Was this man a fanatic? Was he deluded? Or did he
speak a wisdom of which this world knows nothing when he crowned the song which describes
desolation with the song which expresses jubilation? We believe that this is a song of the higher
wisdom, and that the singer was a philosopher in possession of the true secret of life.

Let us observe at once that he did not begin on this level. I turn back to the opening of this
prophecy, and I find the same man speaking in other terms and in other tones:
 O Lord, how long shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto Thee of violence, and
Thou wilt not save. Why dost Thou shew me iniquity, and look upon perverse-ness? for spoiling
and violence are before me: and there is strife, and contention riseth up. Therefore the law is
slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous;
therefore judgment goeth forth perverted.

That is the tone with which the prophecy begins; yet it ends with the song of jubilation in the
midst of circumstances of desolation. To that matter we shall return again presently.

Having affirmed our belief in the wisdom of this man, let us consider the ground of his
confidence as it is suggested in his psalm; and let us consider the joy of his experience as it is
expressed therein, and then turn again to a consideration of that process of faith by which he rose
to this height from the depth which is revealed in the opening of the prophecy.

First, then, as to the ground of his confidence. At the head of the third chapter of the
prophecy of Habakkuk we find these words: "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to
Shigionoth."

We are at once arrested by this strange, mystic, suggestive word "Shigionoth" at the opening
of the psalm. There have been many opinions concerning the meaning of this word. It has been
suggested that it was a description of poetry that was almost incoherent, a series of expressions
having little connection with each other. In that suggestion there may be an element of truth, but
it is by no means finally satisfactory. The word is found in only one other place in our Bible, and
that is over Psalm 7, where it appears in the singular form, whereas in this case it is in the plural.
In a comparison of these two psalms we cannot now indulge, but such a comparison reveals two
qualities which seem to be quite opposed and yet to be an underlying unity. Dr. Thirtle, in a
recent volume on the Psalms, has suggested that the title means loud cries merely and that the
thought must be interpreted by the nature of the psalm. In Psalm 7 we have the loud cries of a
man who had passed through a period of pain and anguish and trial, and was celebrating his
deliverance therefrom. If we take the whole of this psalm of Habakkuk we shall find that it is a
series of exfoliations of God.

Its first great note is the uttering of the name of Jehovah:

O Jehovah, I have heard the report of Thee and am afraid;

O Jehovah, revive Thy work in the midst of the years.

The prayer is, "Keep alive Thy work" rather than "Revive Thy work." This opening cry was
the prophet's reply to the revelation which had preceded it. Let us go back briefly over the whole
prophecy. Habakkuk was confronted by the problem of prevalent anarchy; he declared that there
was no justice, no equity, no right dealing; and out of the midst of his overwhelming sense of the
iniquity of his own times he cried to God, and, in effect, he said, Why art Thou doing nothing?
God answered him in the secret of his own soul, as He declared to him, I am at work, but if I told
you what I was doing you would hardly believe Me. I am employing the Chaldeans, people
outside the covenant, as My instruments to punish My own people. When the prophet heard this,
with new astonishment he argued with God, How canst Thou employ a man more wicked than
these Thy people in order to punish them? Then he said, I will away to my watch tower and wait
and see! And while he waited God declared to him the true principle of all life: the puffed up
soul is destroyed, but the righteous live by faith.

This is the history of Habukkuk's triumph over the appearances of the hour. The man had
cried to God, and God had answered him. Now he said:

I have heard the report of Thee, and am afraid:

O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years.

The method of that work I cannot understand. I thought Thou hadst forsaken us. I made my
protest. Thou hast told me how Thou art working, and I am still puzzled! But, O Lord, keep alive
Thy work, even though I do not understand its method and cannot observe its secret. "In the
midst of the years make it known, only in wrath remember mercy."

Then, immediately following this opening prayer, there is a great psalm of worship of God:

God came from Teman,

And the Holy One from mount Paran,

and so in mystic sentences, many of them defying all our attempts at exposition, he rose to
the heights of Divine contemplation and extollation; until at last from the heights, turning his
eyes again to the desolation, he said:

For though the fig tree shall not blossom,

Neither shall fruit be in the vines;
The labour of the olive shall fail,
And the fields shall yield no meat;
The flock shall be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls:
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Thus out of the midst of adverse, perplexing circumstances the prophet had been brought
face to face with God, and in communion with God he had reconsidered the present in the light
of past history and of the presence of God. If you will examine the psalm at your leisure you will
find that while there are things in it which defy exposition, this man was clearly looking back,
reviewing the way along which God had led His people, even to that hour of darkness and
difficulty. As he looked back and remembered the way along which God had led them, he said,
in spite of all the desolation, my heart shall be filled with rejoicing, and I will extol God.

Can we not see some of the things that were presented to his mind? Attempting to put
ourselves back into his place, to stand side by side with him in the midst of the desolation
already apparent, and presently to be even more so, I think we can discover some of the sources
of his confidence.
 This song is in the future tense; the prophet was describing the terrible desolation that would
come with the coming of the Chaldeans. How dare he rejoice? It seems to me that these are some
of the arguments which produced his joy.

First, he knew that if everything were destroyed, God is able to create anew all that shall be
needed for the sustenance and fulfilment of life. To grant the first miracle of creation is to see
that everything is possible, that even the desert may blossom as the rose, that even the high
mountains of difficulty may be brought low, that even the deepest valleys of life may be lifted to
the height of the everlasting hills. That is the simplest proposition that the man of faith will make
when his eyes are turned from the oppressive circumstances of the hour to God Himself.

As this man reviewed the history of the past he was warranted in believing that God was able
to send supplies from sources other than he knew. Although the fig tree shall not blossom, nor
fruit be in the vine; although there be no promise of spring, although all that we have done shall
wither and produce no fruit, God is able to supply our need from resources of which we know
absolutely nothing. Habakkuk would remember the way God had guided His people; he would
remember how in the wilderness, which the great Leader Himself had described as a great and
terrible wilderness, God had hidden resources; that quails were supplied, and water provided
from the flinty rock. This prophet would remember also the experience of another prophet, who
in the reaction after a tremendous victory sat beneath the juniper tree and said, Let me die, and
not live. And he would remember that in that hour of strange desolation angel ministers brought
him bread and water. Consequently he said in his heart, God can supply all that is needful from
resources of which we know nothing, and this song was the result.

Did he not also know as he sang this song that God was able to multiply the little and make it
last through the distress? That was the wilderness experience, in which the shoes of the pilgrims
did not wax old. That had been the experience of the widow who found that the little meal in the
barrel and the oil in the cruse had never grown less until the distress had passed. Or may he not
also have argued that, if there should be no supply of his need, no meeting of the physical need
of the people who put their trust in God; if He created nothing new, sent no supplies from
sources other than he knew, if He did not even make the little last till the distress were overpast,
then, if necessary, God could sustain without food?

Unbelief springs in the heart of this congregation when the preacher suggests that; but it is
unbelief! Sight will never believe such a thing possible when faith affirms it. Faith does not
affirm that to be the ordinary method of God; faith does not declare that it is likely God will
sustain men without food; but faith does declare that it is possible for God to do so. This man
would remember how Moses on the mount for forty days had been sustained, how Elijah on
Horeb had been sustained, and he would say, Although all physical means of support and
sustenance are denied, I will rejoice, for if it be necessary for the fulfilment of the Divine
purpose and the carrying out of the Divine intention, God--and the emphasis must always be
there--is able to sustain life even without food.

Yet I do not think that this method of argument created the full inspiration of the song. It was
the song of a man who, having seen all these things, yet rose to higher heights. It was the song of
a man who had come to the conviction that although all these things should fail, God Himself
could not fail. It was the song of a man who but a little while before had imagined that God was
inactive, indifferent, but who had discovered in the process of honest communion with God that
He was active in spite of the appearances of the hour. He had discovered God anew in
communion, and now he rose to the height of this great song, and declared that although material
support of life should be withdrawn entirely, yet in God is still found fulness of life, a complete
joy, permanently satisfying, and absolute and undisturbed peace. Rising above the surrounding
desolation, he extolled God, and though in different language, expressed exactly the same
philosophy as did Job when, in a moment of rare illumination, he exclaimed, "Though He slay
me, yet will I trust in Him."

In the second place, let us consider the joy of this man's experience;

I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

His knowledge of God produced his confidence in God, and that confidence in God
immediately and inevitably produced joy. The words he made use of are remarkable words; "I
will rejoice in the Lord." I hope I shall produce no shock when I translate them literally. Take the
first Hebrew word and express it quite literally, and this is it: I will jump for joy in the Lord.
Take the second of the words and translate it with equal literalness, and this is it: I will spin
round in the God of my salvation. Does that seem as though I were spoiling a great passage? I
think some of these passages need spoiling in this way in these pre-eminently respectable days
when congregations are shocked if a man say Amen! Exuberant joy, a bounding joy was this
man's experience, and in these words we have such joy expressed. This was no cool, calculating
word. I will jump for joy in Jehovah, I will spin round with delight in the God of my salvation.
Do we know anything of that emotion in the midst of desolation, not when the ordinary activities
of everyday life are prospering, but when it seems that there is the most calamitous failure
everywhere, no blossom on the fig tree, no fruit on the vine, the labor of the olive failing, the
flock gone from the field and the herd from the stall? It is all Eastern; I should hardly know how
to express that in the language of London, but you business men know. Perhaps we might
employ a modern word, bankruptcy. Everything gone, yet will I jump for joy in the Lord, I will
spin round with gladness in my God. I believe that one thing the Church most sadly lacks today
is exuberant, buoyant joy in the Lord God. I do not forget that a woman laughed at a king who
danced before the Lord; but I thank God that the king danced before the Lord. This word of
Habakkuk was compelled by the joy that sprang within him. This was not imitation joy. It was
that of a man filled with delight even in the midst of circumstances of desolation.

If I have thus laid my emphasis on the nature of the joy, let us carefully mark the sphere of
the joy. "I will rejoice in the Lord." "I will joy in the God of my salvation," not in circumstances
but over them, not in the part that is seen, but in the whole that faith alone can comprehend. Not
in circumstances can I rejoice oftentimes, but if I have this clear vision of God it is given to me
to rejoice over them; if I simply look at them my heart will be depressed, filled with a sense of
sorrow; but if I see the whole, the ultimate, the unveiling of the purpose of God; if I really
believe that the bud may have a bitter taste but sweet will be the fruit; if I have seen God and
know that His purpose is a purpose of great love, then surely I may triumph over circumstances,
not in self, but in God.
 That takes us to our last consideration, that to which I referred at the beginning, and on which
I have touched incidentally. How did this man climb to this height from the level on which he
began? The whole value of this prophecy on the side of human experience is its revelation of a
process. As a revelation of the method of God it is a most surprising prophecy and one which we
need to study. So far as man's experience is concerned, the prophecy is of value because it shows
the process. How did Habakkuk arrive here? First, through doubt in which he was absolutely
honest; second, through trial in which he waited; finally, through communion and the revelation
of a secret which he obeyed.

First, through doubt in which he was honest. The picture presented at the commencement of
the story is that of prevalent anarchy, the silent God and a man doubting. Let no man be angry
with Habakkuk for doubting. I would utter a paradox: it is only the man of faith who really
doubts. There is no room for doubt unless you believe in God. Blot out God and everything is
certain, mechanical, fixed; twice two are four--and you may as well be buried. If the eye has ever
been lifted, and the soul has ever been conscious of more than the dust, then there must be the
hour of questioning--if you are afraid of the word "doubt." What is God doing? Why is He so
silent? That is where this man started. Forgive me if I modernize my story. He did not then start
a society of men who had found relief in doubt. He did not talk to other men about his doubts. He
talked to God about them. That was his first step toward the heights. If a man is oppressed by the
difficulties by which he is surrounded, if he talk to the dwellers in darkness he and they will
abide in darkness. If, on the other hand, he will tell the doubt to God there will always come an
answer. That is the way of triumph, that is the first upward step, that when a man doubts God he
tells God so. That is fine agnosticism. Habakkuk was in the midst of doubt, and he said, O Lord,
how long shall I cry of violence and Thou dost not answer?

The answer was very surprising, so surprising that we cannot understand the surprise until we
get right back into the Hebrew atmosphere and realize the exclusivism of these people. God said,
Behold, the Chaldeans; I am bringing them to do My work, I am employing forces outside the
covenant. That was the first answer. If some of us will begin in the midst of a dark outlook to
talk to God like this, telling Him we cannot understand what He is doing, it is very probable He
will give us the same answer: Do not try to measure all My going by the statistics of the
Christian Church; find Me at work beyond the borders in which you have thought confine Me.
We still say that God must do everything through His Church. He wills to do so; but if the
Church fail, God cannot; and He will then gird some Cyrus outside the Church, and employ the
very wrath of men outside the covenant to praise Him, and make the remainder to be restrained.
So this man beginning in the depths dared to speak the thing he thought, that God was not at
work, and this was the answer.

Second, he found his way higher through trials during which he waited. There was the
approaching foe, the Chaldeans actually coming; presently they must sweep over the country,
and everything must lie in desolation. He looked on the coming desolation, and saw that God
was acting, but he could not understood God's method. What then did he do? The most difficult
thing of all:

I will stand upon my watch, and set me up upon the tower, and will look forth to see what He
will speak to me, and what I shall answer concerning my complaint.
 I have complained that He is using the Chaldeans, I know He is doing it; I will wait the
interpretation of events in explanation of the mystery that I cannot fathom. I will wait. I think
some of the apparently simple injunctions of the Bible are the most difficult to obey. Take this
one: "Be still, and know that I am God." It sounds so simple, until I begin to do it, and then I find
that it is the hardest thing in the world to be still. The most perfect exercise of faith is to wait, to
wait patiently for Him. That is what this man did. I will look forth to see what He does. I will
wait.

In that waiting God came again, and said to him:

Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision
is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, wait
for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay.

God thus said to the waiting man, I will give you a secret that will enable you to wait; I will
strengthen you in the process of your waiting. This is the secret: "Behold, his soul is puffed up, it
is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith." That was the secret of all secrets. The
final step to the heights is that of communion with God, and a secret given, which must be
obeyed. The righteous shall live by faith. Apply the principle, Habakkuk, to all that puzzles you.
Yonder are the Chaldeans coming, the scourge of God; they are coming in pride, their soul is
puffed up; know this, they cannot abide, they also must pass and perish. I will make their wrath
to praise Me, and the remainder restrain. Let the principle of your life be faith, and you shall
live... a great word without any qualification, because qualification almost invariably lessens the
grandeur. My righteous shall live by faith.

Immediately the word was spoken the man answered it. He believed and rested on God, with
no explanation of the circumstances in the midst of which he found himself other than the
declaration of the overruling of God, the abiding government of God. He experienced no
amelioration of the conditions, desolation was imminent, but the song reveals him acting on the
secret whispered to his soul; and there rose loud cries of rejoicing, extollings of God, and all this
out of the rapture of a soul that by faith had taken hold on God, and knew--if I may use New
Testament language to interpret Old Testament experience--that "to them that love God all things
work together for good."

This is a study of Old Testament times. Let me, therefore, quote to you from the words of a
New Testament apostle:

We have the word of prophecy made more sure; where-unto ye do well that ye take heed, as
unto a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the daystar arise in your hearts;
knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation.

Peter was here thinking of the vision of the holy mount, and referring to all the ancient
prophecies, he declared that in Christ they were made more sure. The great principles revealed in
this Old Testament story abide, only to us they have been made more sure in Christ. In Christ we
have the ratification of everything we find suggested in this psalm of ancient Hebrew time.
 Let us be personal and particular in the case of our own need. This is not a message primarily
for those who are in circumstances of prosperity, and who see light everywhere. Let them rejoice
in the Lord for prosperity, and walk in the light by His fear. Some are in circumstances of
adversity, confronting apparent desolation. I speak with such, and in all tenderness and all
reserve, not out of an experience which is in perfect harmony with that of Habakkuk. I do not
think I have ever risen to his height, but I see the glory of it. Can we rejoice in the midst of
desolation? All the arguments in favor of his rejoicing are made more sure for us by Christ.
Suppose all be swept away on which we depend. Our Master is able to create for our sustenance.
He has resources of which we know nothing out of which He can meet our need. He can lay His
multiplying hand on five loaves and two fishes so that they will meet the need of thousands. He
can, if it be necessary, sustain without bread. If all these things are to fail, and by reason of this
failing, this transient physical life of ours shall droop and wither and die, yet there will be infinite
music in our Master's word to us: "I am with you alway." If Habakkuk of old could rejoice in
God revealed to him, as by comparison in the twilight only, how much more may we rejoice in
Him as He has been revealed to us in the grace and truth and glory of the only begotten! "Rejoice
in the Lord, and again I say, Rejoice."

How shall we rise to this height of triumph over all circumstances? First, by recognition of
the fact that amid the prevailing conditions which appall us Christ is at work. Is not our Master
making this appeal to us today, that we trust Him even though He seem to be using strange
instruments? Let us see the goings and victories of Christ, and dare to affirm them as such, even
though we may not have been the instruments in His hands for the winning of these victories.

To summarize our meditation in a final word, What is the value of it? I would state it thus.
Our joy is in proportion to our trust. Our trust is in proportion to our knowledge of God. To
know Him is to trust Him. To trust Him is to triumph and excel. May we be led into fuller
knowledge and so find fuller faith and so enter the fuller joy.

Then shall we be able truthfully to sing:

Though vine nor fig-tree neither

Their wonted fruit shall bear;
Though all the fields should wither,
Nor flocks nor herds be there;
Yet God the same abiding,
His praise shall tune my voice;
For while in Him confiding,
I cannot but rejoice.