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
Any experienced hiker or climber knows that in order to go to the heights, you must go through the valleys and tread the “not so frequently travelled” ground in order to reach the peak. It’s not a journey for the faint hearted nor for the ill-prepared. It requires discipline, preparation, commitment, dedication and perseverance to begin the journey, stay on course and finish the race.
Where our minds can get derailed in the journey is thinking that our strength is in ourselves and leaning on our own understanding to try and make it through this life. However, as we see in the book of Habakkuk, our strength comes from the Lord. It’s beyond a carnal strength but rather, it is His indwelling Spirit that takes us and transforms and carries us beyond the life we could ever have imagined.
The question is not, is it possible? The question is, do we really want to go to the heights? Do we really want to go? Certainly from a distance and through an eloquent narrative, the heights sound and look marvelous; and they truly are. But what we often don’t see, is the road it takes to get to the heights. We don’t see the process and so when we get started and encounter difficulty, we can confuse it for a problem when in actuality, difficulty and challenges are a part of the journey. They are the tools that carve us along the road, equip us for the next steps and enable us to persevere further.
Are you ready to go to the heights?