Keep watching and watering!

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, …” Habakkuk 3:17 New Living Translation

When living in the desert you sometimes get the feeling that all the forces of nature are allied against your desire to grow stuff!

The sun attempts to suck the moisture out of your plants. The birds take a sample bite out of each piece of your ‘almost ripe’ fruit. And what they leave behind, the ground squirrels pick clean, not necessarily to eat, but to prove that they can!

My sad story continues … my small patch of backyard sodded grass that my good friend and I laid ever so carefully, soon became the buffet favorite bunny food. Had they nibbled accurately and evenly it wouldn’t have been too bad. But they munched it down to and through the roots leaving only unclothed soil.

Hence my reclamation project of reseeding the half of my lawn that had been turned into rabbit pellets. I fenced out the pests, spread good topsoil, bought high-grade seed, raked it in and began keeping the ground moist for the 4 to 6 days it would take to see new growth.

It’s now eight days into watering and waiting and there isn’t one sign that anything is occurring.

The verse above comes from the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk. He, too, has been waiting. God is coming to vindicate and liberate his people from their enemies. He sees the the mental picture of the dramatic rescue as clearly as I envision the lush green grass shown in the picture on my bag of grass seed.

But it hasn’t come, and he’s faced with the same dilemma we often face as we await God’s fulfilled promise in our lives. So even though he sees blossom-less fig trees, grape-less grape vines, crop failure, empty fields and barns with no livestock … he keeps believing and hoping and watering and looking.

His confession? “ … yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation.” Habakkuk 3:18 New Living Translation

 This week remember: Faith that quits before the answer arrives isn’t much faith. So “even though” you are experiencing tragic, disappointing or sad things in your life, never give up on God. Let your “yet I will rejoice” be confident praise for God’s loving and timely arrival.

I’m going back outside and look closer for my new grass!