Habakkuk 3:19 GOD, my Lord, is my strength; He makes my
feet swift as those of YOUNG DEER and enables me to go upon the heights.
This is about the feet of the young deer. It is about the desire of the deer to seek
out the heights and that it has the equipment to reach those heights. An unclean animal like a horse has solid
hoofs and is not as good a good climber.
Perhaps you might think, what about a swine, a pig? They have cloven feet. They could be good climbers but do not have
the heart. With a pig it’s about
attitude and not altitude. I won’t try
to over-examine this analogy except to say that if you study the examples of
God you will often find deer. They have ears that turn in every direction so
they are swift to hear. Deer are not
mute but they rarely make noise so they are slow to speak. They are much more likely to avoid
confrontation so they are slow to wrath (James 1:19).
Verse 20 of James 1 says the wrath of man does not work the
righteousness of God. All too often we
miss this truth and allow ourselves to be motivated by our own pain or
anger. Moses failed in an important test
out of anger and was forbidden to enter the promised land. He was no longer useful to lead God’s people
and God laid him to rest. Your anger may
not condemn you to hell, but it will surely limit your usefulness to God.
A pig COULD climb but is unlikely to. His desire is to sniff
around in the dirt looking for buried food, not climbing to mountain
heights. His ears are big and floppy,
reducing his ability to hear. They are
loud creatures, always grunting, squealing and quarreling amongst
themselves. Pigs are pushy, often
knocking others over to get to their food.
Deer are ruminants, meaning they chew the cud. Chewing the cud is a symbol of thoughtfulness
and introspection. A pig is not a
ruminant. Ruminants look within and
judge themselves (1 Corinthians 11:31).
Unclean animals generally do not. Feet give you the ability to climb but
without introspection you are unlikely to do so. For this reason a deer is likely to climb to
the heights because his feet give him the ability to and his introspection
gives the will and the desire to do so.
He has a better view of his surroundings and where the predators may be.
Proverbs 5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and
running waters out of thine own well. 16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad,
and rivers of waters in the streets. 17 Let them be only thine own, and not
strangers 'with thee. 18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife
of thy youth. 19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her
breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the
bosom of a stranger?
There is a deeply personal reason that God wants us to live
like a deer, to climb high and consider our ways. We are the bride of Christ. He loves us with all His heart and for us to
be a faithful and gracious bride we must do the same. We are the cistern that God wishes to drink
from. We are the well that refreshes
Him. The water of the Spirit, the well
of water that flows from the Holy Spirit from us to those around us is to draw
others into this union between God and His bride.
God will not allow the love of a stranger or the embrace of
the same to touch His heart. He insists that He will only receive the blood
cleansed and purged bride into His heart.
It is our opportunity now to climb higher and then to receive from Him
the strength and encouragement we require to reach down and draw those who have
not yet begun the great climb upward. If
we through our actions will show His love and passion for others then they will
be drawn to Him and increase His blessing and His enjoyment in His bride.
Our lot is not simply to suffer and struggle through life
until some glorious day when we leave this place and rise to meet Him. Our lot is to abide in His love and through
it to be comforted and nurtured by His Spirit.
God’s love is greater than any trial or difficulty. Many of our struggles come because we have
taken our eyes off of Him. His grace and
love will overshadow us and if we keep our minds upon Him we will dwell in
perfect and uninterrupted peace. If we
do not keep our minds focused upon higher things we will not have His peace and
may well damage our own much more fragile earthly relationships. Wisdom says that we should abide in His love
and peace so that He may abide in ours and make us strong.
Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet
of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good
tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God
reigneth!
I love our God and His Word.
I especially love his Spirit that links us together as one body. God has impressed upon me to write this short
lesson about the feet of those who walk before God. Today when I looked at a Facebook post and
someone had used Isaiah 52:7. It is
always exciting to see God take two or three separate men or women of God and
bring one message. Consider this, where
two or three are gathered in His name, there He is in the midst of them. The beauty of this is that we don’t have to
be together physically to be gathered in His name. All we need be is in the Spirit to be in
unity. If there is but one other saint
studying the feet of the servant of God we are in unity and God is in our
midst. I believe this is the case.
Our feet were never meant to stand in valleys and upon soft
sand. We were ordained to stand upon the
rock and there is no rock quite like a mountain. Our view was to be from up high so we could
look upon those less fortunate and through our prayers God’s arms can reach
down and capture more hearts. The Lord
says our feet are even more beautiful when we publish the good news of the
Gospel. He says we are to bring good
tidings of good. That’s rather like
excellent excellence or wonderful wonders.
Everything God does is exceedingly excellent and filled with His life.
We are to publish the words of salvation. What are the words of salvation? OUR GOD REIGNS are the true words of
salvation. As long as He reigns
salvation will reign in our bodies. Ultimately
our words say to Jerusalem, the city of God, “YOUR GOD REIGNS!!!” One day they will return to God with their
whole heart and scripture says that our walk with Him will make them envious of
our relationship and draw them to Him.
One thing is certain; foolish, arrogant and angry Christians draw
nobody. It is only those who climb to
the heights of the mountains who can draw others with bands of love.
Higher up and further in beloved. Thy king awaits his bountiful bride.
Bishop J.
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