I recently had the privilege of preaching at my home church, the Arlington Church of God in Akron, Ohio. It is always a great blessing for Sharon and I to reconnect with the family and friends of that great church and the city of our birth. It will always be home for us. I feel the leading of the Lord to share with you the basic text of that message, “The Divinely Inspired Yet,” which I hope will be an encouragement to you in our challenging times.

God answered him in what is a fairly well known scripture in chapter 2, where God told him to record the vision that God would show him so that those who read it could run with it. The vision he showed Habakkuk was how God would deal with the arrogance of the Babylonians because they thought they couldn’t be stopped because of the great conquests they made, including over God’s people. All of the rest of chapter two is God showing Habakkuk how he would eventually punish them. Then Habakkuk wrote his prayer in chapter 3, first talking about all awesome things that God does, leading into the verses listed above. In verse 17, is the divine yet; God could be trusted to care for His people and bring them deliverance.

Friends, in case your social media is on lockdown, your computer isn’t functioning, your cell phone broken, you no longer get the newspaper, your television is on the blink, and you are not aware, things are just a bit crazy in our time. Look in any direction and at any aspect of the culture, and you can see that things are not as they should be, and they haven’t been for a long, long time. Just look over the last 5 year, and all of us could come up with an exhausting list of major societal, economic, and spiritual challenges and problems.

Depending upon whom you talk to and when, everyone seems to have an opinion as to why things are so bad. Whether it is God punishing us or just the byproducts of kicking the foundations of the culture out from under us, everyone should agree that we have a mess on our hands. But that is much like the people of God and what they experienced in Habakkuk’s time. We, like him, might want to cry out to God and ask Him why and how long, Lord?

With all the chosen people experienced, and regardless of how bleak it was, Habakkuk uttered a powerful assertion of how he would stand through it all. I encourage you to examine with me the Divinely Inspired Yet! Let me share it with you again, but this time from the King James Version:

¹⁷ Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: ¹⁸ Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. ¹⁹ 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.

This amazing prayer of Habakkuk opens up three challenging questions for us, especially in these times that are so upside-down and making absolutely no sense!

How’s Your Worship? Habakkuk said, “… yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” Habakkuk changed directions in his prayer. He went from talking about all of the punishments that the Lord was dishing out on His chosen people because of their disobedience, and appealing to God for help. He looked at all the tough stuff and came to the realization that even if he lost everything, and didn’t know even where his next meal would come from, that He would rejoice in the Lord. He would be joyful in God, his Savior. He was going to praise the Lord anyhow! He was going to be grateful to God, and He was going to worship Him.

Folks, with all the craziness going on all around us each day, this question begs and answer. How is your worship? As a part of that, how is your praise and thanksgiving? Praise is honoring God for Who He is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is so much that the Word of God says about Him, and there are over 700 names and descriptions of Him, like: God Almighty; the God of Power and Might; the God Who Sees Me; the Everlasting God; the Most High God; the Lord of Hosts, and so many others. Are you praising God daily and regularly for Who He is and what He is able to do? Are you honoring God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

Are you thanking God for all He has done for you? Think about every aspect of your life, and all the blessings that have poured into your life and do so daily. Develop the daily habit of thanking the Lord for each of them. There is so much that we have to be thankful for, both the good things and the tough things that taught us lessons and demonstrated His abiding presence with us. He is worthy of our thanksgiving. Practicing it daily as a part of our worship regimen will help us to develop an attitude of gratitude.

And then there is the wonderful act of worship, pure, in Spirit and in truth. It is giving back to God the richness of what He has invested in us, in life, in spiritual gifts, and in our very being. Think of little children just learning to stand and walk. They go around exploring and learning about the world around them. Yet, every so often, they come looking for Mommy or Daddy and they throw their hands up to be picked up and hugged, sit on their lap and just relax in the security and comfort of knowing they are loved. There is a purity there, a power that demonstrates the bonds of love, peace, and value. That is how we are to look at worshipping the Lord Who gives us life and preserves our lives.

We worship God when we give back to Him the offerings of our lives in using the gifts He has given us, whatever they are, in purity and in the power of Holy Spirit. It might be music, it might be dance, it might be art, it might be poetry, it might be administration, healing, whatever. If God gave it to you, He empowers you to use it to His glory. That is worship. You might think that your gift isn’t worth much, but I am convinced that whatever you give back to Him from a pure heart, He will notice it and you. Folks, again, How’s your worship?

Another key question is “How’s Your Witness?” Habakkuk boldly proclaimed, “The Sovereign Lord is my strength…“ Habakkuk was able to confidently assert that he had strength even when others would look at him as if he lost everything and had nothing on which to stand. He boldly proclaimed that the Lord is his strength. That was his testimony, his witness that no one could challenge. He was resolved. People can argue and fight about Bible doctrines, theological perspectives, and congregational positions, and even see those things cause broken relationships and fights. People can challenge your understanding of the Bible, and try to question your position in the Lord. Church movements have split over the centuries because of disagreements in these areas. It doesn’t matter what your commitment to living out what you believe to be true, someone might try to challenge what you believe.

It wouldn’t make much sense for someone to argue with you against your experience of coming to Jesus Christ. Only you can truly know your experience of having your sins forgiven, your life purified by His blood, your sin-sickness cured, and the indwelling Holy Spirit guiding your life. I have a story to tell about Jesus Christ and how He changed my life forever. I’ve made a lot of decisions, some of which I have regretted. I have never regretted giving my life to Jesus Christ. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you have a story to tell, because you are His witness to a world that needs Him desperately. Just tell your story and let Him do the rest. As He opens the door of opportunity, walk through it with the witness of what Jesus Christ has done for you and what He can do for others. Folks, how’s your witness?

Lastly, friends, How’s Your Walk? Habakkuk ends his prayer with a powerful affirmation of something King David wrote in Psalm 18. “…He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to tread on the heights.” I love the illustration that Habakkuk used in the second part of verse 19. He actually quoted something that King David wrote in Psalm 18. It is a powerful indicator of something that occurs in an amazing way in nature. Deer usually abide in the lowlands versus the high places. You see deer are always trying to stay alive among all the predators that want to make dinner out of them. I wonders sometimes if they cherish running into vehicles since so many do it here in Michigan. In the lowlands they are very exposed as their only source of escape is to outrun or fake out and then outrun the predators that try to kill them.

But when there are mountains around, God has given deer the amazing ability to walk and run up and down the mountains, even to hop from ledge to ledge and not fall. The predators try to do that, but they don’t fare well with it. I saw a video recently that showed a deer running straight up a mountain that looked like a sheer mountain face. He ran up at full speed. He was no doubt running from a predator. Understand that the scriptures state the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

God’s desire is that we climb up the mountain of life to His glory, stepping confidently on the high places. The promise is that he would make us as sure-footed as a deer and empower us to walk on those high places. There are a couple of realities for us with this, however. First of all, don’t expect to walk high if you are determined to live low. There is a lot in the low places that people become obsessed with and burdened by, often because of the challenges of life. Secondly, God enables you to climb to the high places with Him, He doesn’t put you there. We have to determine not to live low, but to live out our walk, better yet, our climb with the Lord so that He can enable us to climb to the high places with the Lord God. We have to determine that no matter what else is going on around me, we will be determined to live holy for the Lord; that is how we climb.

As we worship Him in the beauty of Holiness, and as we witness to His lifesaving and life-transforming glory, and determine to walk with Him on the High places, then He will make my feel like the feet of a deer, or as the King James Version says, like hinds’ feet. A hind is just a red deer. He will cause me to climb the tough, high, rocky terrain of life’s difficulties and challenges all the way to the high places. It is in this journey to the heights, and there on the heights, that we securely bask in His glorious presence. So friends, forsake the low levels of struggle and disfunction, and take to the mountain of God, escaping the attacks of the devil and his minions.

When trouble and challenges of any kind come your way, know that He will make your feet like hinds’ feet and enable you to walk on the heights. No matter the situation or the circumstance. Just keep climbing with the confidence that God is with you on your climb, and be determined to make it. He will make your feet like hinds’ feet and empower you to walk on the high places. Even when you are facing the end of your journey, and the enemy tries to fool you into thinking that you haven’t done enough to make it into heaven, He will make your feet like hinds’ feet and He will empower you to walk on the high places where there is no sickness, no trials, no struggles, no tears, and no death. In that place there is fullness of joy, peace, love, and fulfillment in the presence of the Lord forever. Folks, how’s your walk?

How’s your worship; How’s your witness; How’s your walk? Know that if you live those out in holiness and truth, He will make your feet like hinds’ feet and empower you to walk on the high places with Him.

With love,

Rev. Mark K. Richardson, State Pastor