The Works of God

Along with a Bible reading plan, I also highly recommend a good study Bible.  For example, this was from my reading on December 3 from Habakkuk 3:

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.
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
(Habakkuk 3:17-19 ESV)

The meaning is plain from the text.  But there is more, and my ESV Study Bible helped me see it:

Anticipating great destruction at the hands of the Babylonians, Habakkuk has radically changed-he began by informing God how to run his world, and ended by trusting that God knows best and will bring about justice. Though the fig tree should not blossom. Verse 17 contains a frequently quoted list of material disasters in which all crops and livestock are lost, and as a result it is unclear there will be food to eat. Yet even amid suffering and loss, Habakkuk has learned he can trust God, and with that trust comes great joy, not in circumstances but in God himself: yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. Yahweh has become Habakkuk’s strength (see Ps. 18:32, 39).

ESV Study Bible, Crossway Bibles, p. 1727.

“Yet even amid suffering and loss, Habakkuk has learned he can trust God, and with that trust comes great joy, not in circumstances but in God himself.” Of course it is in the text, but I missed it!  I’m grateful for good tools that help me see and think on and enjoy more of what God’s word has for us.