Thanks For Nothing

By John Stallings


Most prophets heard from God and then spoke to the people, but not Habakkuk; he spoke to God alone.

He pours out his heart to God with questions and complaints, and God gives him answers. But in the last few verses of his little book, after all his frustrating questions and musings, Habakkuk springs forth in a classic song of praise that boggles the imagination.

 Listen to him in chapter 3:17-19. “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive tree shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; and the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord is my strength and he will make my feet like hinds feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.”

What the prophet is saying in this passage is, he’s made a decision that no matter what happens to him, or what the circumstances, he’s going to praise God for it, even if it’s thanks for nothing.

When I was a kid, one of my major malfunctions was that I didn’t want to do things unless I felt like it. Studying, chores, anything you can mention were all done when I felt like it [or as I liked to refer to it, when the spirit moved me.] One day my father took me aside and explained to me that although I had a plan, my plan was flawed because it was the “no-plan plan” and it wasn’t going to work. He then introduced me to another plan; the, you have to do what needs to be done no matter how you feel, plan.

I was a child then and that’s the way most children want to do things, by the way they feel. As we grow, we begin to realize that if we let our emotions rule, they will move us all over the map and consequently many important things won’t get done. That’s a recipe for a life in shambles. Babies need feeding, farm animals needed looking after, crops need gathering, our work is waiting and how we feel is mostly irrelevant.

Maturity forces us to put our feelings and emotions on the back burner and move to another level. We learn that we posses a higher, stronger force and it’s called the human will and we begin to approach things by saying “I will do what I need to do.” And what an awesome power our will is.

As adults, here’s the way we operate; by sheer force of will [and the grace of God] we spend the day working at whatever we need to do that day, in order of its importance. We will do all this without consorting with our feelings because, unless we’re sick in bed, they have almost nothing to do with the work that must be done. What we can’t get done today, we’ll work on tomorrow. The most important things we have to do become the center- piece of our lives and everything else is organized around that. We’ve found, by hard experience that our success is embedded in our daily [for the most part, non-emotional,] regular schedule. Live or die, sink or swim, we do the basic’s and we do them everyday. Sound familiar? When I adopted that plan many years ago, a funny thing happened. My feelings, which used to try to rule me, found out I was going on in spite of them and they got in line and have rarely ever bothered me and never stopped me.


There’s a constant war going on within us between our flesh and spirit. Our flesh wants to dominate and do the pleasant things but our spirit wants to do the right, necessary things. The "Good-time devil" is always pulling on our coattail.Habakkuk is saying in this passage that no matter how disappointed he is, no matter how hurt he feels, no matter how he might feel physically or emotionally that day, he, through an act of his will is going to direct his soul to be thankful and praise God anyway.

 Even if it’s, “thanks for nothing.”LET’S DETERMINE TO PRAISE GOD ANYWAY.

Praise God for what and who he is rather than what he may seem to be doing or not doing. This attitude brings us into a sphere where we will get to know God in a deeper way and our hearts open to receive untold blessings.

In Psalm 118:24 the psalmist says, “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” It doesn’t matter what the day brings, we should rejoice for God gave us the day as a gift.

In Psalm 116:17 the psalmist says,”I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord.” That means I may not feel like it but I know its right for me to praise him because I’m way behind in my praising anyway.

In Psalm 103; 1 the psalmist says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me bless his Holy name.”Here the psalmist is giving his soul instructions and directions to bless the Lord.

In Acts sixteen, Paul and Silas had been arrested, badly beaten and thrown in jail. At mid-night Paul called out, “Silas, can you hear me son? Silas said, “yes Paul I can hear you, what’s on your mind”? Paul said, “Son I think it’s time for us to have a praise and prayer service.” Silas said, “Paul, you must have a little fever, or you may have struck your head on the way in, we’re a thousand miles from home and nobody knows where we are. We’re going to die in this jail so let’s not sing now; I’m one hurting, pulsating wound and truthfully I don’t feel like singing.” Paul answered, “You’re right son, and we’re going to rot in this jail if we don’t start praising God.” The Bible says that at midnight Paul and Silas sang and praised God. Two men who didn’t feel like praising, two men who had good reason not to praise, two men who were little more than open, stinging wounds sang and praised God anyway. They could have said, “When we feel better we’ll praise” but they praised and the praises went up and hit the throne of God and came back down in the form of an earthquake, rattling the prison where they were incarcerated. I can just hear Silas say, “Paul I think I felt something.” Paul said “so did I son, one more verse and I think we’ll have it.” The praises of Paul and Silas, though seemingly for nothing, caused that jail to break open and Gods men to be set free.

Praise, like an airplane, lifts us above the dark clouds where we can see the shining silver of their other side. Praise lifts us above our petty desires and frustrations and puts our pain into perspective. Health and strength flows into us because our minds are brought into a positive place, putting us in a position to receive more from God.

Through praise we are reminded that the same God who spins the planets loves and cares for us. We, almost by definition were made to be vessels of praise. We see it constantly at sports events and award shows where man is praising man; that is our nature, but God created us for and covets our fellowship and praise unto him.


DO YOU WANT TO SEE A MIRACLE? - DO THIS!

Plant a seed, almost any seed. Put it in the earth anywhere it can get oxygen, water and fertilizer. Now watch what happens. Even if it’s under a mountain, under concrete or asphalt, if you give it basic requirements, it will burst forth and bud. It will push a mountain or any other impediment aside and spring forth from the ground. You will see a miracle. Your small seed could be a giant oak tree.

WANT TO SEE ANOTHER MIRACLE? -DO THIS.

Plant a seed of praise. Plant it in the darkest circumstance, under a mountain of difficulty or a wall that seems to separate you from your destiny. Speak forth your song of praise, and do it in every circumstance. Do it in the darkest hours of your life when the sun refuses to shine. Do it when your last friend has forsaken you and your life lies in shambles at your feet. Do it when you’ve laid your loved one in a new made grave and you come home to imagine the echoing sound of their footsteps in your hall way. Do it when life has stolen your last shred of health and strength and will to go on. Do it. Just do it and stand back and watch what happens. God will break through into your circumstances and show out in unfathomable ways for you are building him a house of praise to reside in. “He inhabits the praises of his children. Psalm 22:3.

IF WE WILL DO THIS, WHAT SEEMED TO BE NOTHING, WILL SOON BECOME MORE THAN WE COULD ASK OR THINK,

And we will exclaim with Habakkuk, “He will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk on my high places.”

“Praise ye the Lord, Praise the Lord O my soul. While I live will I praise the Lord. I will sing praises to my God while I have any being.” Psalm 146; 1&2.John

Blessings,

John