Habakkuk 3:17

He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.

The joy of the Lord is your strength.—The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.—Be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.—Sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing.

How irrational it seems! We, with whom God hath dealt bountifully, can understand praising Him, but we should have the greatest respect for a man, who under these circumstances would not repine. To bring it closer home than the time of Habakkuk, translate all this into current experience. Instead of flocks and herds, use profits; instead of figs and olives, read credit balances; for husbandry and its terms, use business and its terms; for flocks and stalls, substitute bank balances and securities; for Chaldean invasion, the economic blizzard which is sweeping through the world—and then see where you stand!

Although there shall be no balances and securities, and all dividends shall be passed, and though I be reduced to utter penury, yet will I rejoice in the Lord!

I ask you to observe what a disastrous situation is being described in this passage and to notice how courageous is the faith that is expressed. It is as if the writer were actually saying, “Even if I am forced to undergo the extreme condition of not knowing where to find my next meal, and although my house is empty and my fields yield no crops and I see the evidence of divine pestilence where I once saw the fruits of God’s plentiful provision, ‘yet I will rejoice in the Lord.’”

I believe that these words are worthy of being written forever in stone with a diamond tool. Oh, by God’s grace, may they be deeply etched on the tablets of each of our hearts! Although the above verse is very concise, it nevertheless implies or expresses the following thoughts of the writer: that in his time of distress he would flee to God; that he would maintain his spiritual composure under the darkest of circumstances; and that in the midst of everything, he would delight himself with a sacred joy in God and have cheerful expectations of Him.