Gettin' Me Some Hinds' Feet

Deer on the side of a cliff.

This is the picture of a deer on the side of a cliff in Africa.

Um....yeah. I guess I just stated the obvious. Sorry.

Are you wondering what my point is?

Well it is this. This picture illustrates to me some well-known Scripture. It is Scripture I have heard my whole life but lately I have completely changed the way I now understand it. This is the verse:

"The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to tread on the heights."  Habakkuk 3:19

My whole life I have looked at this Scripture and pictured the Lord holding me up as I walked through difficult places. Maybe He would be holding my hand or maybe He would be giving me some supernatural ability or maybe He caused a miracle to change the path into one I could navigate. In all these scenarios He ENABLED me to walk.

So how did that interpretation change?

Well, look what it would look like if I was climbing (and no, this is not me):

• First of all, she has a helmet
• And she has gloves
• And there are some serious straps all around her body
• ....which are attached to the rope
• And are those metal rods she is holding onto?

Now, if we go back to the top of the page and check the deer........yep, I checked. That dude has absolutely no safety equipment whatsoever! 

And as I look at these two pictures I had the realization:

• God isn't going to make my clumsy, size 6, slightly pigeon-toed feet able to climb mountains, even allegorically. 

He is going to give me new, entirely different feet.

ME is not going to be able to do anything.

That is why He isn't going to enable my stubborn heart to truly love....He is going to give me a new heart. (Ezekiel 18:31)

And He isn't going to enable my spirit to survive the hardship....He is going to give me a new spirit. (Ps. 51:10)

Nor will He enable my mind to conceive the truth....instead He is going to give me a new mind. 

(Eph. 4:23)

It seems lately I have been stumbling on the difficult tasks in my life. They have been fairly successful at tripping me up. And down there, in the dust of the trail, things look more bleak and more hopeless than they do from the high places.

But no wonder I have been having trouble.

I was using the wrong feet! 

Lord, here are my feet: please make them new and into whatever you want them to be. 

For who is God, but the Lord?

     And who is a rock, except our God,

The God who girds me with strength

     And makes my way blameless?

He makes my feet like hinds' feet,

     And sets me upon my high places.

Psalm 18:31-33