How I love it when God’s blessings flow my way. Those goodies from above. When extra money lands in my wallet. Legally. The latest health report alleviates my fears. For the moment. My political party dominates, this time around, and I feel so smug that others, those roustabouts, get smattered. When our children and grandchildren are on top of the world in every way. As more and more people, from over 60 countries, read these devotionals. God’s blessings–how sweet they are!

But what about those other times? You know what I mean. Not blessings but troubles, downturns, and hellish moments that inevitably find me hiding and terrified, hoping beyond hope that the hot seat where I’m mistakenly parked will soon correctly accommodate somebody else. How cowardly can I be?

Shame on me when I also scowl at God, putting blame squarely on His shoulders. Why me? What gives? Answer up, God. Or else. Or else what? That you’ll have one less follower? Such a threat causes harm only to me.

You may be familiar with the conclusion of the Old Testament book of Habakkuk. The part about trusting God no matter what. When God’s blessings go on vacation in the desert where they dry up and blow away.

Habakkuk doesn’t require God’s freebies to trust Him. This Old Testament prophet’s faith shines even in the dark. Especially there. An ‘in spite of’ confidence and hope, which allows him to cling to his Lord, even as troubled winds blow his way.

How about you? And me? Only true blue when the good times roll? A ‘Real McCoy’ follower, if I get exactly what I want from Jesus? And while He’s at it, how about lots more and nothing less!

Here’s what Habakkuk says–‘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 herds in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation’ (Hab. 3: 17-18).

Oy veh, what a dyed-in-the-wool believer. I’m far from being in Habakkuk’s league. I need to trust Jesus, not only for the blessings, but when some vile calamity hits me square in the face. Not a fairweather Christian, but an all-weather one. That’s the prayer of my heart. Join me?

Thank you, Jesus, for loving me just as I am, helping me grow in my faith, and making me more like you. Always for your sake. Amen.