THE SOURCE OF STRENGTH AND STABILITY

 

The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet,

And He will make me walk on my high hills.  (Habakkuk 3:19a)

God is in control, even in a world that sometimes seems out of control.  The events that swirl around us and the emotions that surge within us are in constant flux—yet, a Sovereign God reigns and His will shall be done.

What I am to do is submit to His sovereignty.  If I do not, then I have decided to supplant His authority.  That is folly to be sure—in two ways.  It prevents me from experiencing His strength and stability which alone can sustain me, but also sets me up for catastrophe as in my arrogance I have decided I am my own sovereign.  This is the natural tendency—our sinful idolatry.  This is the sin that brought down a beautiful angel and made him into a devil.  It is the evil that brought in the curse on Adam’s race and environment.  You can be as God.  That is the temptation which must be resisted!

Here is what Israel did,

For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,
And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.  (Jer.2:13)

I do this when I refuse to rely on the Sovereign God as my strength and stability.  I forsake the only source, and depend on a futile hope. 

The Stone falls from Heaven, and I will either fall upon the Rock of Ages in brokenness and reliance, or that Rock will fall on me in my rebellion and crush me.  The Rock, however, will roll on as He fulfills His inexorable purpose!  And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” (Matt.21:44)

If I want strength and stability, then I must draw it from this source—the Sovereign God.  I dare not trust the strength of my own hands to overcome my problems.  I must not trust the stability of my own feet to order my path.  God will do both for me, in me, and through me, in my utter dependence on Him marked by unconditional obedience to Him.

Faith is the intersection of my impotence with Omnipotence.  Faith drives me to Him for strength, and directs me to Him for stability.  May I resign from trying to play God today.  What madness!  Instead, may I rest in His strong provision and sure promises, for He is God and God alone—my supreme force and steadfast footing.