“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.” –Habakkuk 3:17-18
In March 1843, in the village of Dundee just off the River Tay in Scotland, the 29 year old Scottish minister Robert Murray M’Cheyne lay dying of Typhus fever. In his very brief life, the Lord used M’Cheyne mightily in what has been called the Dundee Revival.
M’Cheyne’s friend and biographer Andrew Bonar detailed M’Cheyne’s final moments which were spent in prayer and singing a line from William Cowper’s hymn, Joy and Peace in Believing: “Sometimes the light surprises the Christian as he sings.”
Cowper (pronounced Cooper) wrote this hymn during his depression, drawing inspiration from these verses in Habakkuk. We sing to the Lord even as pains come, and as his hymn expresses, “Sometimes the light surprises the Christian as he sings.” Surprises. Cowper’s hymn continues on:
“It is the Lord who rises
With healing on His wings;
When comforts are declining,
He grants the soul again
A season of clear shining,
To cheer it after rain.”
There is much pain in life. Much darkness. Much “rain.” A hymn of hope like this sung on a deathbed adds even more weight to the idea of “surprises.” Think upon this as we meditate on these lines from Habakkuk 3 together.
The prophet Habakkuk details the total failure of crops, flocks, and herds with the anxieties of God’s people as the Babylonian armies approach threatening complete destruction. Jerusalem was about to be destroyed and much of the people marched off into exile. There was no earthly comforts, no earthly hope. There is no earthly joy, nothing earthly to rejoice in.
Have you been to such a dark place, friend? Have you had sorrows and despairs amount exhausting all earthly comforts? It could be depression, the death of a loved one, or the fear facing our own death in the face. It’s the place the clichés invented from this dark, hopeless world dies. “Time heals all wounds” and “this too shall pass” assumes there will always be something good tomorrow. “Keep calm and carry on” speaks to inner anxieties and strengths, but is useless when inwardly we have nothing left.
When we have nothing left inside of us, and no joys or hopes outside of us, we are invited to submit to God’s sovereign plan along with trusting His promises. It’s in Habakkuk’s word, “yet.” The prophet sings joyfully because he takes joy in the God of his salvation. There is a joy that cannot be taken away by griefs, pains, or death, and that joy is in our unchanging God who promises salvation.
We are not to have our faith in earthly blessings. When threatened with total destruction of everything that sustains life, the Christian is surprised by joy. To have a strength from God who arises with healing in His wings is a joy the world does not know. Peace. Jesus said, “My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27).
We live today knowing we have eternal life ahead of us. We face trials of impossible earthly odds knowing nothing in earth can take this hope, peace, and joy from us. We can step into our graves trusting Jesus who rose from the dead will give us the victory. Jesus has given us these mercies. Only Jesus has the power to take what He has given away. And He refuses to take these away, and no power of earth or angel can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39).
I do not pretend to know the depths of what darkness pursues you, reader. I will not assume to know your griefs and pains. I may have not yet experienced what troubles you right now. But this I know: “Sometimes the light surprises the Christian as he sings.” Divine comfort to the weary soul of His children is a hope our troubles cannot block and a joy in the God of our salvation even death cannot take away.
Heavenly Father, in dark places and hard seasons remind us it is You who brings us there, that even in the darkest places You can be seen. Your light surprises us while we sing. A broken and contrite heart You heal, and we find joy in the God of our salvation. Where we are weak, Lord strengthen. Where we have faith in earthly things that can be taken away, Lord remind us of Your promises in Christ that nothing can take away. We rejoice in Your mercies and in Your wise instructions we best learn not in our comforts, but in those low places of trials where You prove You are reliable. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
