The Lord God is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
Habakkuk 3:19
To those who know and love this verse, it may be surprising that the rest of Habakkuk tells the story of a terrified prophet receiving the word that the Lord is raising up the Chaldeans, "a fierce and impetuous people," to chastise the nation of Judah.
The book begins like this (Habakkuk 1:1-2):
The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
How long, O Lord, will I call for help,
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do not save.
Habakkuk understands why the Lord is allowing this treacherous people to attack the nation (1:12):
Are You not from everlasting,
O Lord, my God, my Holy One?
We will not die.
You, O Lord, have appointed them to judge;
And You, O Rock, have established them to correct.
Maybe I should say he understands kinda, sorta why the Lord is allowing this (1:13). You can almost hear the "Hey, wait a minute..." here between lines two and three:
Your eyes are too pure to approve evil,
And You can not look on wickedness with favor.
Why do You look with favor
On those who deal treacherously?
Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up
Those more righteous than they?
He complains a little more, then (2:1b) braces himself for the Lord's rebuke (I've been there, which may be why I find this remark so funny):
And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me,
And how I may reply when I am reproved.
In the third and final chapter, Habakkuk reflects on the terrifying yet magnificent acts of God. Then we read the prophet's resigned fear and dismay (3:16):
I heard and my inward parts trembled,
At the sound my lips quivered.
Decay enters my bones,
And in my place I tremble.
Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress,
For the people to arise who will invade us.
Yet immediately this is followed by the famous uplifting passage, verses 17-19, which closes the book:
Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
Habakkuk waits in utter dread... exulting and rejoicing in the Lord. I love the honesty of this. He doesn't say, "when the terror passes..." or "when the enemy passes, then I will exult and rejoice in the Lord." Nor does he try to cover up his terror -- instead, he uses it to reaffirm that he trusts God to sustain him, no matter what.
Clearly, this is not Habakkuk's first trip up the mountain.