The Lord has special paths
The Lord has special paths
The Lord has special paths
The Lord will have special paths
Habakkuk Chapter 3 verses 17 through 19 say using the NIV version of the Bible:
17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.
The context of the three chapters of Habakkuk, show the judgment may arrive for the wicked schemes out there at the time, and according to the details in Chapter 2 a lot of it revolved around money and scheming people about of money via corruption and false representation.
It is hard say in the present day, that shortfalls in anything are absolutely the judgment of the Lord. In the area of say financial issues, mega companies failing might be just the logical outcome a bad strategy augmented by reckless corrupt practice
If the rivers are polluted, it is because items of pollution were throwing into the river in most cases, not because of some divine ordinance saying the rivers will be polluted.
If I jump into a ocean full of dangerous sharks and dangerous currents and I get into trouble, it is a logical outcome in that I am not surmising circumstances that really should have been sidestepped and outright avoided.
At the same time as each of us goes about our errant ways, it is wise to consider that the withdrawing of graces we take for granted can happen.
Every single thing we are trying to do involves multiple variables and often depends on multiple variables going well.
There is no guarantee that it will be a good beach day.
We can make plans but lots of things have to cooperate.
There is a dependency on things going well in small ways and bigger ways and you can never really say I have everything totally firmed up.
Taking advantage and stepping on the wrong toes with schemes was a provocation against the Lord and judgment had come.
The vines weren't giving the grapes, the olive crops had failed and so on down the road and this was trouble that was directly upon the prophet Habakkuk who was ironically calling for this judgment in the first place and also was detailing offenses.
So it was not his fault that things had turned sour and had gone awry.
If say the economy is crumbling as this is the case here at this section of time, even if a given individual had nothing to do with fault, the effects are widespread and affect more than the original offenders.
If the trains stop running due to corruption that I had nothing to do with, and if I am trying to catch a train, I am not going to be able to do that, no fault of my own but nonetheless I am not catching a train and this was something I was depending on myself.
If the Lord is withdrawing graces from the land, and I had nothing to due with the provocations for this happening, nevertheless I still depend on the land myself and I will suffer as well with the rest.
Habakkuk was now in the midst of lack himself, as the malaise had general and widespread aspects that did reach far and wid
In one sense this is good, in that the message is clear and it is the equivalent of big writing in the sky.
But the drift was that Habakkuk couldn't get the basic goods and luxury goods himself.
There are number of indications here and the final verse of the book is both and indicator and counter indicator.
Verse 18 says, "
19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights. "
Habakkuk mentions the sovereignty of the Lord, meaning the Lord does anything he wants and pleases and even the wide dictates of his withdrawing graces can open up to exceptions.
Others might or could have still been headed off at the pass, unless maybe they repented and came to the Lord.
However, for Habakkuk, the Lord would create special paths even in the middle of all this, that could be traveled with glee, as it say he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and indeed the Lord would give him grand footing on these paths and enable these paths, that could reach any heights according to the Lord's good pleasure.
But there were no limits as to what these paths might be, out of the design of the Lord; the outer circumstances of judgment did not limit what the Lord could do for one individual in exceptional fashion or as an exception from the storms of difficulty
The rule of withdrawing of graces was now upon the land, but Habakkuk, at first also confronting this, would be granted an exception and not only that, would have special pathways created for him personally that could be found and be the subject of great heights and personal rejoicing, despite what was going on all around that was not quite that.
How the Lord might do this is out of the creative presence of the Holy Spirit, but it is a way of upholding his people or a person no matter what.
And this will conjure up to a path that is appropriate and managable, Habakkuk would still have his feet on the ground going well, but as good as ever, going as well as the fleet deer ever was in going on his happy and joyous paths of fleetness, that is how good this paths, these paths would be for him.
This was manifested out of his relationship with the Lord
There is another indicator here and that is what paths the Lord creates for you, overrule circumstances.
It is important to believe this in that when the Red Sea parts for you, you will cross it.
People deem themselves, too this, too that, not good enough, not worthy or surmise that their circumstances, which may tie strongly to outer circumstances such as economic for one.
But this doesn't quantify as to how and where to look for the Lord and what he might do and how he might lead
What Habakkuk was saying contra indicated what he was seeing and what he was at first experiencing.
He wasn't on paths where he could be as fleet as the deer, which is symbolic of a great and passable pathway for him and maybe you.
The moral is, whatever you think, whatever you feel, whatever the circumstances are that seem quite unfavorable, whether they are or are not from a judgment or withholding of graces for the land as they were here, the Lord might lead you right to an amazing path.
The still waters mentioned in psalm 23 where it says the will be leading to still waters, means that the special paths, can arise for you in the midst of any circumstances and to take them it is best to recognize that this could be the case.
If there is a road right in front of me that could go unbelievably well and it is from the Lord, and I can't quite believe this because of the way things had been and are going, I may not take the opportunity as it seems too good to be true.
But the Lord according to Habakkuk specializes in giving too good to be true. In this case it wasn't a material item, or a new title or getting up another rung on the ladder, but it was an actual path, a special path created by the Lord.
And who knows what it might be or what it turned out to be for Habakkuk.
But the point it to know that it is possible, out of the sovereignty of the Lord, to do something like this.
The Lord's favor to Habakkuk would bypass the general judgment out there, and the Lord's special pathways for you, can bypass negative or unfavorable out there circumstances to the point and degree to which amazing paths can be found with and through the presence of the Lord found in relationship with him
The lesson or application might be to tie in your requests to possible paths.
Asking the Lord for say the pathways to health, the pathways to good relationships, the pathways to quality insights, the pathways for a more adventurous spirit, and the pathways to creativity and so on.
You can superimpose this last verse over any prayer request, asking the Lord do get you where you can be on a long standing path where you feet are like the swift deer running with freedom, joy, aplomb, hope and having its place and path to the special continuing gifts of the Lord.
The mistake might have been, if Habakkuk did not recognize the Lord's doings would be to stay stuck with the trouble that everyone else had been experiencing and would continue to experience, while he did know that the Lord had the others paths, that the Lord did create paths for people, that were majestic to anything that they had known and expected and therefore looked for previously.
Dorothy found the yellow brick road to Oz and this path she hoped would bring her home to Kansas.
The Lord will have special paths that will bring you home to his blessings and will incur blessings all along the way on the riverbanks of his love for you.
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