Holy Wholeness: Unconditional Praise
Scripture: Habakkuk 3:17-19
Lt. Colonel Allen Satterlee
Spiritual Life Officer
USA Southern Territory
When you are a child of God, He treats you like an only child.
He constantly pours out blessings to the world at large. Some of it is what is termed “common grace”, the things that are ours because we are part of His creation and members of the human race. The beautiful sunset, the singing of the birds, eyesight, hearing, knowing and giving love are evidence of God’s common grace for the whosoever. Not everyone can enjoy all of them, but the gifts of God’s common grace are so abundant that everyone can enjoy some of them.
Blessings of the Child of God
For the child of God there are other blessings that are ours by our relationship with Him. The joy of knowing our sins are forgiven, of God living His life in us, of healed relationships and a new outlook are ours because we are His. When we speak of the blessings of salvation there are many others who nod their heads in agreement because they know these blessings as well. When we pray with other believers, our hearts are united even though in other respects we may be vastly different. The abundance of the Christian life is so marked that we wonder how life could ever be lived at all without the presence of God.
But then there are those special blessings that have our name on them. Even though through His blood sacrifice billions have come to Christ in salvation, we still come one at a time for our own personalized relationship. Our individual prayers are offered in confidence to Him because He has answered our specific prayers, He has anticipated our particular needs and given us tailor made answers. Like the many emails we get every day that we know are being received by tens of thousands of others simultaneously, God is sending blessing to the millions in a moment. But unlike the email blasts, when God sends something to us it is individually addressed, not only with our name but a specific message that whispers in our heart. It is like we are His only child.
As a parent follows his or her child in the class production or while listening to their concert, our God is focused on us, watching what we do, looking for reasons to be proud of us. There are those moments of correction and instruction but always through the lens of love. There are times when we fall and scrape our knee, when we do something really dumb, when we are selfish and disappointing to ourselves and others. Yet the Father regards us as worth fixing and patching and setting us on our way.
Life Takes a Turn
When blessings are flowing like some great waterfall it is easy to ride the current of praise. But life is not always accompanied by lilting melodies or gliding through clouds. The prophet Habakkuk lived in a time when the world buckled underneath him. Listen to his words as he outlines the conditions he faced: “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty…” (3:17). In a farming society, Habakkuk speaks of an agricultural apocalypse. Not only was everything gone but any hope for the future was taken away as well. No blossoms, no grapes, crop failure, empty fields, the livestock gone, the barns empty. Not only was this disaster for the day he was living but it would persist for as long as he could see. Tomorrow might be another day, but it wasn’t going to be a better day. In fact, things would grow steadily worse. Then it would descend to horrific.
After all the blessings of the past and the loving care so evident from God, it would have been natural for Habakkuk to cry out to God for deliverance, to plead for the blessings to return. We want moment-by-moment blessing, happy songs and shining optimism. But what if we know that while those times might eventually return, we need to live through the nightmare followed by disaster?
Determined Praise
Habakkuk shared what he would do as he faced those circumstances: “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights” (3:18,19). Habakkuk decided that praise would be his answer to misery, hopelessness and loss.
He used a beautiful word picture to describe how he felt. He said that God made him “as surefooted as a deer.” The animal he referred to is not the common whitetail deer we know so well in North America but the gazelle that dwells in the mountains. The animal was known for its surefootedness in the roughest of terrains, able to leap across rocky crags to find a place to stand even there. The jagged terrain did not trip it up and Habakkuk said, the difficult days will not rob me of my praise or confidence in the God I serve.
The river of joy continues to flow not only through paradise, but also through the desert. True praise does not look around for what is at hand but up to He who owns the heart.
Our Corporate Prayer
Dear Father, Thank You for those times when I have looked and seen nothing but blessing, when it seemed that everywhere I turned good things were happening and everything was right. But there were other times when like Habakkuk, it was dry and barren and it looked like nothing was right or ever was going to be right again. Thank You for being my faithful God in both those good times and those bad times. Make my heart steadfast in praise no matter what the times are because You are faithful in all the seasons of my life. Whether I sing out with a strong voice or can barely sing through my tears, hear my praise to You, O mighty and loving Father. I know I am in Your hands and I praise You through it all. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Our Worldwide Prayer Meeting
Uganda Territory
Thinking It Through
If we love whether or not we feel loving, we can praise whether or not we feel happy or joyful. Praise is an attitude, not just an emotion. We fix our hearts and minds on the unfailing goodness of God and trust in that even if there is no evidence in the moment.
Notable Quotable
God has proven Himself as a faithful Father. Now it falls to us to be trusting children. - Max Lacado
"Total Praise" is a marvelous songster piece that captures this idea of praise. Listen to the International Staff Songsters as they team up with the Eastbourne Corps Songsters in this rendition.
We would appreciate any feedback and/or suggestions on how to improve these devotionals. Please email comments to: SpiritualLifeDevelopment@uss.salvationarmy.org or by going to our website: https://southernusa.salvationarmy.org/uss/spiritual-life-development.
We would love to hear from you.
Lt. Colonel Allen Satterlee
Territorial Spiritual Life Development Officer/THQ Chaplain