3:17Habakkuk 3:17

Although every crop fails and no food comes from orchard, vineyard, olive grove, or grain field, leaving no harvest, livelihood, or visible provision.GW92 434.3+2 Although every animal is gone from pasture and shelter, leaving no flock, no herd, and no pastoral food or security.GW92 434.3+2 Such total loss of every ordinary supply creates severe want and trial, yet becomes the very setting for still trusting and rejoicing in the Lord as salvation, strength, joy, and security apart from material abundance.GW92 434.3+3 In the famine, privation, and distress of the last days, and in personal affliction, pain, and discouragement, those who fear God are preserved by Him and refuse despair, holding to Jesus as life, consolation, and only hope and finding grace and companionship that sustain joy.GW92 434.3+4

The verse pictures a total failure of crops and harvests across every cultivated source.GW92 434.3+4 The fig tree does not blossom, the vines yield no fruit, the labor of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food for sustenance.GW92 434.3+4 No agricultural provision, food, or livelihood remains from tillage and harvest.GW92 434.3+4

It pictures likewise the total loss of livestock, with the flock cut off from the fold and no herd left in the stalls.GW92 434.3+4 Sheep and cattle disappear together, so that pastoral provision, food, and security are gone.GW92 434.3+4

Taken together these failures describe complete material deprivation and the collapse of every visible and ordinary source of supply.GW92 434.3+4 Crops fail, fields produce nothing, and flocks and herds are gone, leaving no food or herds at all.GW92 434.3+4 Such a condition is one of severe trial, hardship, and want, in which every earthly support that could be seen and counted upon has failed.GW92 434.3+3

Although every field and tree fails and every flock and herd is gone, leaving no food, livelihood, or visible provision, that total loss becomes the setting for still trusting in divine promises.GW92 434.3+4 Even when fig, vine, olive, and grain yield nothing and fold and stall stand empty, faith answers with rejoicing in the Lord and joy in the God of salvation.PK 387.2+4 Apart from all material abundance, God Himself becomes strength, salvation, joy, and security, sustaining the faithful through famine, perils, trials, and the time of distress.GW92 434.3+4

It is the language of a child of God trusting in Jesus when the power of the destroyer presses surely and heavily.Lt 124, 1901, par. 7–9 Though no crop, food, flock, or herd remains, he still rejoices in the Lord and finds joy in the God of his salvation.Lt 124, 1901, par. 7–9 That joy is fed from inexhaustible springs in and through Christ Jesus.Lt 124, 1901, par. 7–9 It constantly breaks forth into refreshing abundance from the sense of His ever-present, abiding companionship.Lt 124, 1901, par. 7–9

Such rejoicing means refusal to become discouraged, depressed, despairing, or trampled by disappointments, trials, or the unconsecrated lives of others, and refusal to let go of Jesus.Lt 2, 1889, par. 13–15 Disappointments and trials are to bind the soul closer to His great heart of infinite love, for Christ is life, consolation, and only hope.Lt 2, 1889, par. 13–15 Perpetual grace flows in ever-flowing streams for all who thirst and come and drink.Lt 2, 1889, par. 13–15 Every child of God will be sifted as wheat and tried in the furnace, severely tempted yet never failing, not consumed but refined, because Christ lives and therefore they shall live, and Christ abiding in the soul will not allow it to be overcome.Lt 2, 1889, par. 13–15

The verse portrays the perils, trials, famine and loss of earthly support belonging to the last days and the time of distress and trouble, when ordinary sources of food and livelihood completely fail and no agricultural or pastoral provision remains.GW92 434.3+3 In that condition of severe deprivation the righteous endure famine and privation while God preserves and provides for them.DA 122.1+2 Even then those who fear God still rejoice in the Lord and in the God of their salvation, finding joy, security and strength in Him rather than in material abundance.GW92 434.3+3

The same deprivation becomes instruction for teachers facing discouragement, hardship and affliction, that trials need not drive them to murmur against God or forget His goodness.7T 274.3+1 Material hardship and affliction do not remove the grounds for trust and joy in God, since faith can still rejoice in the Lord and in the God of salvation when crops fail, fields yield no food, and flocks and herds are gone.7T 274.3+1 The verse is therefore used to rehearse God's promises when unbelief and discouragement make His word seem hard, for remembering His promises helps believers resist despair and remain confident in Him.Ms 10, 1890, par. 12–14+1 That remembering encourages trust and patient waiting for God amid financial and institutional difficulties, holding to rejoicing in the Lord even when every visible source of provision fails.Ms 10, 1890, par. 12–14+1

The verse also applies amid prolonged pain, sleeplessness, sadness, bodily pain, and hindered, fruitless work with no human strength, help, or outward remedy available.Lt 50, 1892, par. 16+1 Keeping hold on God and finding joy in Him as Savior in that state allows Christ's grace to sustain, and confidence in God's salvation prevents discouragement.Lt 50, 1892, par. 16+1 So faith can rejoice in God even when life is marked by severe affliction and loss, with faith supported by hope lightening burdens by looking toward the future rest in heaven.Lt 50, 1892, par. 16+2