A Missional Credo for Tough Times

Right now, banks are pulling back; mortgage firms are pulling back; individuals are pulling back from their 401-k plans and unloading their stock portfolios. Folks are trying to preserve what they've got and minimize their risks.

Churches might be tempted to pull back and minimize their risks as well, thinking that acting missionally is best left to better economic times. Habakkuk, the Old Testament prophet reminds us that we ought not put our trust only in what we can see with our eyes.

In Habakkuk 3:17-19 he says: "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, {18} yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. {19} The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights."

There couldn't be times much worse than that: no buds on the fig trees; no grapes on the vine; a failed olive crop; no grain in the fields; no sheep or cattle in pens or stalls. In Habakkuk's day that looked like economic disaster leading to starvation and eventual death.

Even though their were no outward signs of God's blessing, Habakkuk had confidence that God's blessings would come. In Habakkuk’s Creed everything turns on the first phrase of verse 18 “yet I will rejoice” – the word in Hebrew for this phrase is alaz which means “to rejoice in triumph” Habakkuk expresses that despite what he sees with his eyes, he is confident in God’s power to save and to strengthen him. His exuberance is so lofty that he says “He makes my feet like that of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.”

His credo can be one for churches and individual Christians to think and act missionally. Worldly logic would say "this is no time to be planting churches" or "this is no time to invest my own time and money in outreach." Habakkuk's credo reminds us that this may exactly be the time that God is ready to produce the most fruit.

9-11 brought a flood of people into churches for a short time with questions and interest in things spiritual. Many churches may not have been prepared to leverage that interest to introduce people to Jesus. Some predict the current financial downturn to last for years creating a new and perhaps extended opportunity to introduce people to Jesus so that they learn not to "store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. {20} But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven" (Matthew 6:19-20)

So, the next time I start evaluating God's actions only by what I am seeing, I am going to remember Habakkuk's words "yet I will rejoice...the Sovereign LORD is my strength...he enables me to go on the heights."