“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; 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.”

-Habakkuk 3:17, 18

 

I will rejoice at this Thanksgiving time and say,

“To God the Lord, Who is my God eternally,

The blessed God of my salvation, I will pray

In perfect confidence that He will give to me

The eyes to see and heart to know that—come what may

Whate’er He sends I will receive contentedly.”

 

Although the fig tree shall not bloom with fruits to eat

And we shall find no clustered grapes upon the vine,

The harvest of the barren fields will yield no meat,

The olive tree, that labored hard all year, shall pine

And die, and flocks and herds from field and stall retreat

In death in days of drought before Thy breath divine;

 

Although the wheels of industry grow slack and slow

And giant factories can give no work to men,

And when inflation’s mighty power seems to grow,

When economic answers are beyond man’s ken,

When funds are tight and usury has stopped their flow,

Still we rejoice in God and turn to Him again.

 

When social unrest seems to be a way of life

And men rebel and stop their work to gain their ends,

When greed is glory, bringing crime and hateful strife,

When man and wife are no more married, but are friends,

Or live in lustful unions, all their actions rife

With evil, we rejoice, to Thee our prayers ascend.

 

Oh Lord, we do not joy in all these dreadful things

As such:  in famine and in drought in all the earth;

For though the fig tree all her blossoms never brings

And though the vines and olives fall because of dearth,

We joy because they come from Thee.  Our spirit sings,

Our heart rejoices in Thy work, with thankful mirth.

 

We joy not in calamities of industry,

In sordid poverty and strife on ev’ry hand;

It grieves us sore, O Lord, to hear the prophecy

Of war, and fears of mighty men in ev’ry land.

Our only hope is that we know it comes from Thee

And then, with thanks, we take all things as from Thy hand.

 

Now we give thanks to Thee, O Lord, Who art the God

Of our salvation.  Give us grace each day to say

That we rejoice, for we are saved through Jesus’ blood!

No matter what may lie ahead, we’ll always pray

That Thou wilt show us mercies great and flood

Our hearts with thankfulness and joy along the way.