Weekend Words

From Be Still and Know...

"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" - (Habakkuk 3:19)

During the days of difficulty and discouragement Habakkuk had learned to walk by faith with God.  He could say. "The Lord God is my strength."

He compared his feet to hinds' feet by which he was able to climb above discouraging circumstances and walk on higher spiritual levels.

A most thrilling sight in high mountain country is watching deer bound up the mountainside.  They leap from one ledge to another, often from precarious positions.  We marvel that they don't lose their footing and fall to their death.

The hind is the female red deer.  Deer have the ability of being sure footed.  Because of this, they can jump confidently from rock to rock without danger of slipping.

Also, the hind tracks perfectly.  As the hinds move, their rear hooves step into the front hoof marks.  This prevents them from slipping, for their rear feet rest securely in the prints made by their front hooves.

God plans our pathway through life.  "You chart the path ahead of me" (Psalm 139:3, LB).  His path is a perfect way.  "As for God, his way is perfect" (Psalm 18:30).  The psalmist uses the same illustration of the hinds' feet.  "He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon a high place" (v. 33).

God charts the path of His will before us.  As the hinds' front feet mark the steps in which their rear feet follow, so God marks out the steps of His will before us.  Our part is to place our feet in His steps.  Sometimes His paths before us are very steep; sometimes they are over rough and dangerous places.  Yet we need not be afraid, as we place our feet securely in His steps.  As we "track" in His marks, our feet will not slide.  "My steps have held closely to Your paths - to the tracks of the One Who has gone on before; my feet have not slipped" (Psalm 17:5, Amplified).

As God's mountaineers, we can walk on high places of spiritual victory in Him.

From Beside The Still Waters...

Follow the Leader - Read: John 10:1-18, 12:24-26

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." - John 10:27

From the top of a high ridge in eastern Oregon, Stephen Meek scanned the vast landscape below him in alarm.  Not a trace of water was evident.  The year was 1845, and Meek was leading a train of 200 wagons and 1,000 people along the Oregon Trail.  To avoid hostile Indians in the Blue Mountains, Meek had turned off the main trail and tried to forge a new one far to the south.  Relentless heat and rapidly depleting resources had already taken a deadly toll, and the father of two perished children was blaming Meek and threatening his life.

All of us follow someone, and the leader we choose could well determine our eternal destiny.  Referring to the Pharisees, Jesus said, "They be blind leaders of the blind.  And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch" (Matthew 15:14).  This life's journey is fraught with far more dangers than the Oregon Trail was, and a trustworthy guide is absolutely essential.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).  He has traveled the way before us, and He promises to guide us safely if we trust Him unreservedly.  He offers no shortcuts, bypasses, or even a smooth pathway.  In fact, tribulation is guaranteed, but He has told us, "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33)

Fearing for his life, Stephen Meek fled the wagon.  More than thirty people died as a result of Meek's Cutoff, as the route came to be known, and the stigma of Meek's poor leadership followed him to his grave.  In contrast, our true and faithful Guide, who sacrificed His life for us, has never failed anyone. 

 Let us all make sure we faithfully follow this perfect Leader.

 Pete Lewis - Halsey, OR