Yet (Day 2 of A Simple Lent)
“yet I will rejoice in the LORD”
One of the challenges of life is that we need to take it seriously and at the same time not be overwhelmed with depression.
Much of my youth was spent reading Kurt Vonnegut novels. I would read them so quickly that I had to slow myself down and savor them, knowing there would be a finite number to read. This was after the long gap before his final novel, Timequake was released and I knew there would never be another.
His work seems prophetic in the way of the minor prophets, like Habakkuk. In his novels, we read the hard truths of life with the direct challenge, the full knowledge of how hard they really are. Truths presented with the danger that we might realize that they are too hard; that we’ll give up in the end.
And yet…
This is what struck me as I read about all this violence and struggle and how angry GOD might be at our faults, the prophet still rejoices in GOD.
There is something about the moment we are in, this time of worry and conflict, in which we receive too many whys, too many reasons and rationales. Too many defenses and too many expectations. And maybe we just need the seemingly optimistic reminder that in spite everything, I’m still rejoicing. “I will exalt in the God of my salvation.”
Habakkuk offers hope. Just like Vonnegut. Hope in spite of every rational reason to have none.
In this world, in these struggles, that little word “yet” really means there is hope.
And that is all I need.
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