We see this in the last phrase: "He enables me to tread on the heights". What could this mean? We see these words in Psalm 121: I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord , the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalms 121:1-2 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.121.1-2.NIVUK The mountains were a place where the people in David and Habakkuk's day fled to for safety. The higher and further you went, the more impregnable your fortress was believed to be. The thing with high places is that they are incredibly difficult to get to. We experienced this while walking on the Great Wall of China. Most of the wall is quite stable, but there are a few towers that are very difficult to reach. There is one tower in particular where legend says that Mao declared that he who had not climbed the tower was not a man. How this applied to him I don't know. He didn't look to be that fit in later life. Even when Barak Obama visited, he took a helicopter. We decided to go where Obama feared to tread. We walked along the wall, got to the tower and began to climb it. It didn't take us long to see what Mao was talking about. It was steep. There were no walls and a sheer drop on either side. The stones were slippery. But, after a tremendous effort while clambering on all fours, we made it. We were all men. Including my wife and daughter. According to Mao anyway. Why do armies like high places? Because you can see people approaching. Because they are hard to reach. Because they are easier to defend. Because they are safe. Both David and Habakkuk are talking about God enabling them to go to a place of safety, a place of peace, a place of survival. Belief in a Sovereign God gets us there. Our God has conquered death. He has risen. No matter what happens to us, we are safe. Listen to these words from Isaiah: ‘See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc; no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord , and this is their vindication from me,’ declares the Lord. Isaiah 54:16-17 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/isa.54.16-17.NIVUK Or the Apostle Paul: ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/1co.15.55-57.NIVUK Friends, our victory in this crisis does not depend on wishful thinking or blind optimism or any other kind of vague hope. No, it comes from the actual victory Christ has won for us by dying on the cross and rising from the dead. We don't have to run to a mountain fortress to feel safe. No, He is our fortress: God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Psalms 46:1-7 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.46.1-7.NIVUK There is no other fortress we can believe in. There is no-one else who can get us through this. We must believe in the Sovereign Lord. He alone is our strength, our agility and our impregnability. He alone can keep us safe.
He enables us to go on the heights; to tread the places where others fear to go.
I remember the first time I travelled through the Transylvanian Alps in Romania. I saw nothing. It was dark. My stomach was doing a fantastic impression of a washing machine. I was mildly dehydrated and clinging on to travel sickness pills and a bottle of flat Sprite for dear life. But I was not afraid of the view because I didn't see it.
On the way back, however, I was fitter, more alert and the navigator for a van driven by a Malaysian student from an Irish university, with two Korean girls behind us, one of whom spoke no English. I was responsible now. And as we drove along those narrow mountain passes, I had a bird's eye view of just how narrow they were, and just how big the drop was. This was before new highways had been built, so let's just say I was perfectly happy for us to drive a little carefully.
When we are aware of the risks we face, we are often very afraid. But when we put our trust in God, He enables us to get through hard times that can easily sink other people. All we need to do is trust Him and keep moving forward.
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