Though the flock should be cut off from the fold...

You ever had one of those days?  Or maybe a series of days where it seems everything goes wrong?  Perhaps things are not going well at work?  Or you are waiting on an email for good news and it arrives and the first sentence starts off with, "We regret to inform you that...?"  Or health issues come up out of the blue?  Or tough family problems have you perplexed?  If so, you can probably relate.  Stick with me until the end.  I'm trying to encourage myself and maybe you need some encouragement as well.

The past two nights in a row we've lost a meat bird.  They are one week from butchering - almost there - and a predator has killed two.  The frustrating thing is that he just pulls the head off and eats the neck.  He totally wastes a perfectly good bird.  This is the sight I've been greeted with for two successive mornings now.  This particular chicken probably weighs around 4 pounds right now.


Don't lose your head

I asked a good friend who specializes in problem animals and predators and he told me that this shows the signs of a kill by a mink, a raccoon or an owl as they all pull the heads off.  So, I went by Harbor Freight after work, bought a trap, baited it with a can of salmon and we'll see if we can catch the villain in the morning.  This story is "headed" somewhere, thanks for patiently waiting... Pardon the pun.

So these bad days we were talking about?  What do we do?  How do we get through these "spells" where nothing seems to go right?  I know what we should do.  It's just not easy to put it into practice.  It takes discipline.  It takes faith.  You have to be tough.  (I'm a work in progress and I'm still learning.)

Just so happens I was reading something just the other day that came to mind in my current pity party.  In the Old Testament book of Habakkuk, the Prophet is lamenting with God over the fact that Judah has turned its back on God and are in open rebellion against Him and His ways and it seems like this evil is going to go unpunished.  Habakkuk asks God if He's seeing what's going on.  (Paraphrasing)  God tells Habakkuk, though, that He is going to send judgment on them and it is not going to be pretty.  The problem that the prophet Habakkuk has with this is that the judgment God is bringing is coming at the hands of the Babylonians, a people more evil than Judah.  This just doesn't seem fair from a just God and Habakkuk questions God about it.  God tells him to be patient, the Babylonians will eventually be punished and true faith will be rewarded.

Okay, now we're coming to the 'meat' of the story:

 Here is the prescription for what you are to do in difficult times.  I can't say it any better than Habakkuk:   

¹⁷ Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold

And there be no cattle in the stalls,
¹⁸ Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹ The Lord God is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.

So did you catch it?  Our faith or our happiness should not be dependent on our circumstances.  This book was written 600 years before Christ.  These were primitive agrarian people who were primarily keepers of animals and growers of crops, orchards, and vineyards. 

It's easy to trust God or be happy when all is going well, right?  It doesn't take faith for that.  No, the real test of faith comes when your fruit trees don't blossom, or the yield of your crops is low or you experience crop failure.  Or your chickens get beheaded.  Or you lose a calf.  Or all those other things that I discussed in the first paragraph happen.  What are you gonna do then?

Well, you exult in the Lord.  You rejoice greatly.  It hurts to say that because I don't feel like "exulting."  But if we trust in Him, He's given us salvation and you know what?  He's with us.  We don't walk alone.  And we will overcome, because He is a good God and in Him we find strength. 

A hind is a deer.  What he's telling us is that God has designed us to be like a deer - to run fast to Him (Nothing runs like a Deere), to climb to the highest heights with Him and to be sure-footed so that we may walk in the high places.  Who wants to hang out in low places?  Keep the faith.  Be strong.  Though things crumble around us, may we keep our eyes fixed on Him!