About Olives and Figs

I love olives and I love figs. I think that's why I named this blog what I did when I first started it many long years ago. But as time has passed - and the blog has been periodically purged, redesigned, reevaluated, and relaunched - the pairing of olives and figs has taken on new significance. Let me share what Habakkuk says in the Bible, and you will see what I mean:

Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the LORD,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord GOD is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

The reference to olives and figs becomes a call to trust God and rejoice in Him. It becomes a reminder to view all of life - from the times of comfort and happiness to the seasons of grief and pain - in the larger context of His absolute worthiness to be trusted, loved and worshiped. And this is exactly what I want this blog to help us do.

With each post, the goal I am aiming for is to evoke the God-glorifying response of rejoicing in Him. Too often my life is characterized by responses driven by my circumstances, or even my perceived circumstances. I am discouraged because I am unemployed; I am in despair because I feel abandoned; I am happy because I made a new friend; I am apathetic because I have to spend three hours washing dishes; I am anxious because I have wrinkles on my forehead. These are all responses I have had at one time or another (note the ridiculous irony of the last one). But I want my life to be characterized by responses driven by God, by the reality of who He is and what He is doing. Thus, although I am unemployed, I will rejoice in God because He has promised to provide all I need (Matt. 6:31-33). Tho' I feel abandoned, I will rejoice in God because He has promised never to leave me or forsake me, despite the way I feel or what others have done (Heb. 13:5b). Tho' I feel happy because I have a new friend, I will also rejoice in God because I know this is His gift to me, and I know He will give me the grace to love this person, and I know that should they hurt me, He will heal me (James 1:17, 1st John 4:7, Rev.21:4). Tho' I have to wash dishes for three hours, I will rejoice in God because He has given eternal meaning to all I do since He commands me to do my work from my soul as an act of worship to Him, and He will reward me (Col. 3:23-24). And tho' I have wrinkles on my forehead, I will rejoice because He has promised not to leave me in my old age, because my beauty lies in His creating in me a heart that fearlessly rests in Him, and because one day He will give me a new and incorruptible body (Isaiah 46:4, 1st Peter 3:4, 1st Cor. 15:52-53).

How do we do this? How do we always rejoice in the Lord? A more detailed analysis of the command from Paul to the Philippians is in order, and I hope to spend more time exploring it with this blog.  But for the moment, this answer will suffice: we will increasingly rejoice in the Lord as we grow increasingly confident in Him, and will we grow increasingly confident in Him as we increasingly know Him through the truth revealed about Him in Scripture and through that truth applied in our lives in love and lived out in the power of the Holy Spirit.

There's a lot packed into that answer. It's a big answer. This is a little blog. But I find for myself that writing clarifies my thoughts and helps me meditate on Scripture by drawing me back into its pages. Writing helps me uncover the lies I'm believing and discern the truths about God and His creation that need to replace them. And writing excites me to grab onto and live out the vision put before me in Scripture - the vision of God-glorifying joy. I hope that each post, each topic and each book review will help me meditate on truth and inspire me to live it out in love, and in this way that I will grow in knowing God and joyfully trusting Him.

And I hope that reading this blog and responding with discussion might do the same for you.

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