Daily Lesson for March 3, 2022

 Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Habakkuk chapter 3 verses 17 and 18:

17 Though the fig tree does not blossom,

   and no fruit is on the vines;

though the produce of the olive fails

   and the fields yield no food;

though the flock is cut off from the fold

   and there is no herd in the stalls, 

18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;

   I will exult in the God of my salvation.

This was the text the Rev. John Newton, author of “Amazing Grace” took to preach on the occasion of his own wife’s funeral. That, to me, has always been a powerful story, and it must have been a powerful day there in St Mary Woolnoth in London. 

There seems to always be something to give thanks for. Yet even if we can think of none, there is still rejoicing.

There is rejoicing when the wheels come off. 

There is rejoicing even in the midst of grave loss. 

There is exultation — even in a besieged city, the psalmist says. That takes on new meaning today. 

For a lot of reasons, things are bound to get harder in the days ahead. Let us hold on to exultation.

And let us hold on very tight. 

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.