“GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. ” (Habakkuk 3:19)
We’re designed to plug into God to recharge our spiritual batteries the same way our digital devices plug into a computer to recharge. Deer are known for being swift and sure-footed–and for leaping and jumping up to eight feet in the air, tying into the high places often difficult for a human to climb securely.
And when we read the preceding verses, it’s hard times Habakkuk has in mind:
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 herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
Did we catch that? Not only does this guy have no food, he is probably a farmer, this is his livelihood. He has nothing to sell, nothing to live on. In modern times, his business would be bankrupt and closing and the bank would be coming to foreclose on his house and land.
Everything around him might as well be caving in. Mountains are falling and rivers are rising to flood levels. He has nothing to stand on but faith in God’s salvation. He remembers what God has already done for us (saved our souls) and he trusts God to give him sure ground to walk on even though his natural eyes cannot see anything beneath his feet at all.
Lord, grant us more of that kind of faith. May we trust in your higher ground, and strengthen us to walk upon it and stand secure in you. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.