He Has Done It!

I have mentioned before that I spent about a month in South Africa on tour with Carpenter’s Tools/Youth for Christ when I was in high school.  At one point on our tour we stayed for about three days in a small African village with several host families.  Most of the homes were huts made from sticks, mud, and thatch, but we were housed with families that had bigger homes made of wood but still had dirt floors, no electricity, and no running water.  Several generations lived under one roof, but they were so generous to offer their home and precious food to us for a few days; giving up the one bed they owned so we girls didn’t have to sleep on the dirt floor.  

In between concerts we worked with a translator as we met with our “neighbors” to talk about Christ.  The fact that this village was poor was not lost on us and made us feel guilty for what we took for granted at home.  They truly had very little to offer us but what they did, they gave freely and joyfully.  And during times of worship together, I saw such peace and joy on their faces.  Here they were surrounded in poverty and unrest, but their faith in God was unshakable.  

What I took away from that experience was our faith, trust, and joy in God is not determined by circumstances.  Habakkuk 3:17-19 says,

“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.”

This small group of South African believer’s joy did not rest on what they had or didn’t have but the assurance that God saved them, was their strength, and He would take care of them.  Your version of the above verses could go like this: Though I have no job, money, or resources, and my friends and health have failed, and my future seems to hold no possibilities, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; my salvation, my strength.  He helps me to run with power and reach those unreachable places.

Even though there are times when we feel like we have nothing, God is still there.  He is still good.  He is still powerful.  He has saved our souls and we can say with complete confidence Psalm 52:8-9,

“I am like a green olive tree
    in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
    forever and ever.
I will thank you forever,
    because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,”

Rejoicing with you because He has done it!

Lisa