Hinds' feet?

Have you ever gone through a particularly difficult period of trusting God? Trust is pretty much always one of the most difficult things for our humanity to wrap itself around, but sometimes it just seem harder to come by than others. Anyone?

I have read the reference before in scripture that associates us with the hind feet of a deer and to be honest, I've never thought much of it. Until today. I was led to the same reference yet again in two completely different books of the Bible.

Psalm 18:33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and sets me on high places.

And then again in Habakkuk 3 out of the amplified, it overwhelms my heart in this version:

"Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, [though] the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls, 18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the [victorious] God of my salvation! 19 The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]!"

Joey & I have been to Texas a few times now and when we go we take a drive through a pretty rural area that's known for great hunting. It always surprises me how it's good hunting ground because it's basically flat land, full of gravel and shrubs. But yet, apparently it's an environment that the deer are a plenty. So perhaps that visual was what I needed to make sense of this reference. It looks to me as if it would be painful to walk through that sort of environment, with the sharp rocked edges and the harsh shrubbery. The hiding places are scarce in that environment as well; the deer have to rely on their quick agility to escape the eye of a hunter or predator.

And so it is with us. Life can be hard sometimes. It's full of sharp edges, twists and turns. We come into seasons where the shrubs seem to grow taller than the lush foliage our hearts crave. The enemy never takes a break from his assault on our lives either so our guard always needs to be up. Like a deer.

But then this scripture...

"My personal bravery." Wow. What a picture. God is my personal bravery. When it's hard to trust, God gets personal. When I'm scared of what is or is NOT happening, God gets personal. When the shrubs are growing ever so tall and the thorns seem to be closing in, God gets personal. When I feel the enemy is having a field day with me, God gets personal. And He is brave. Therefore, so am I.

Have you ever noticed how light a deer runs? They have such a grace about them, as they prance through the brush and the rock, as if it causes their hooves no pain whatsoever.

With that picture in mind, whatever you face today, know that God is giving you the feet of a deer. He is giving you the personal strength to walk through whatever difficulty you are in right this very moment. And He gives you the ability to do it with grace. We don't have to complain our way through, we don't have to worry our way through and we don't have to panic our way through. We just gracefully keep.on.moving.