Sure Footed as a Deer!

The Minor Prophets Speak to Today

He Makes Me Able To Tread Upon The Heights

Habakkuk 3:19 
The Sovereign Lord is my strength!
He makes me as surefooted ...
able to tread upon the heights.

 ____________________________________________________________________________________

A NOTE REGARDING HABAKKUK: Habakkuk was a priest called to be a prophet - a more difficult ministry. The same happens today when God calls a pastoral minister to take the role of a prophetic minister. Or, it happens when a person with a prophetic voice finds the only place to be plugged into the church is the pastoral role. We need to learn to recognize a prophetic voice, learn to help train that voice, and learn how to support the person with a prophetic voice. This is the dream we call The School of the Prophets - not yet launched. Join us!

_____________________________________________________________________________________

He makes me ... I love walking in the mountains, the higher the better. For the longest time when I  read verses like this I pictured myself going up into the mountains for the pure enjoyment of being there. I pictured God creating a place of restoration and peace.

But the first two words should have corrected me. I, in these passages, don't choose to take a stroll in the mountains. No, God makes me tread upon the heights. He sends me there. 

The mountain heights are dangerous, though safe for the dangers and turmoils below. I am sent there for my protection - first and foremost - and from that protection comes the sense of peace. I am escaping the terrible things described in the rest of the book of Habakkuk.

Scared but at peace - that is the picture in this passage. Nor is it God speaking to me, it is the prophet (me) speaking about my God.

In turmoil and amidst destruction, at times of looming disaster:

I rest in my God --

He is my strength.

He makes me surefooted.

He makes me able to tread upon the heights.

PHOTO CREDITS:

Rocky Mountain Goat t56 by carfull...Wyoming some Rights Reserved @flickr.com

Rocky Mountain Goat 39 by carfull...Wyoming some Rights Reserved @flickr.com