Giving Up To Strength

“Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.” (Hab 3:18-19 AV)

 

There was much to which Habakkuk could have been discouraged.  He was a prophet to a failed nation.  In particular, his message was toward those who loved God as they were afflicted by the vast majority of those who did not.  His main theme is faith amid adversity.  The prophet was astounded at the lack of faith as found in chapter one and verse five.  Those who love the LORD will not believe what God will do to their adversaries, nor believe when it happens.  They are so distraught through the hardships of life, their faith is almost completely spent.  There is nothing left.  God’s people have failed them.  Their leadership has failed them.  The priests have failed them.  Now they sit in captivity (or will be) and feel as though despite their faithfulness to God, in some way, God has failed them.  Habakkuk reminds the faithful of some incontrovertible truths.  Above, Habakkuk testifies as to what God is to him and what He could be to them.  I have underlined part of our passage above because it spoke to my heart this morning.  It is a reminder that no matter what life may bring, God is always stronger.  But it goes deeper than that.  By stating this truth as he did, Habakkuk is also making an active statement of dependence on that strength.  This is not a simple assent to a truth.  But it is the application of that truth in real-time.

As kids, one year my brothers and I wove our own hammocks.  I forget why we did this.  It might have had something to do with Boy Scouts.  I remember one of my older brothers came home from something and thought sleeping in a hammock was the best experience he could ever have.  My son, who went to Venezuela on a missions trip discovered the same.  He came home with a woven hammock from his trip and we took down his bed and put a hammock in its place.  Anyway, I remember weaving a hammock out of clothesline cord.  We used two-by-fours at each end and worked the cord tying off knots at every intersection.  What we failed to do is soak the cord first so that when it dried, the knots would shrink on themselves and they wouldn’t move.  The thing about hammocks is they are tricky to get in and out of without falling.  There is a technique.  One must be fully committed.  If not, any apprehension meant flipping the hammock over and falling to the ground.  To get in successfully, one sits in the center.  Then he quickly pivots and commits all of his body to the hammock. Partial commitment means eating dirt.  Even when in the hammock, it takes a few seconds to relax and trust your full weight to the hammock.  My son’s hammock was so big, it wrapped inside like a cocoon with his head sticking out.  Trusting in the strength of a bed made of cloth or rope is not natural.  Especially when it is swinging from trees.  But when trusted, the napper can rest deeply knowing that surrendering to a force greater than himself relaxes the body and mind.

When Habakkuk shares his statement that God is his strength, he is not sharing it as mere academic truth.  He shares it as something he has learned and something he is presently experiencing.  We have to remember this.  It is not easy.  Our natural inclination is to go through life in our own strength.  It is what we trust the most.  We have been doing so for a very long time.  It is a life pattern.  There is nothing wrong with using our own strength, to a point.  Using it and being solely dependent upon it are two different things.  The prophet is encouraging the faithful Hebrews.  He is trying to make his faith contagious.  He wants his people to know that even though life is tough right now, God will enable them to endure.  Even though life was easier in the past, the present is not beyond God’s ability to help.  What I need to do is constantly remind myself of this truth so it becomes more and more my reality.  He is my strength.  For all of life.  Not just the trials we are presently going through, but all that we have yet to face.  God is my strength and He can be yours, too.  You just need to go all in and surrender the whole person.  Then feel the gentle rock as you find rest in your God.