HIGHER GROUND
“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. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.” Habakkuk 3:19
Habakkuk closes his prophecy by expressing his faith in God, saying, He “is my strength.” God, said Habakkuk, “will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.” Similar language is used in other places in the Bible, declaring that God would give His servants the nimbleness and swiftness of the deer and bring them to walk on a higher plane. These are words of praise to the Lord, “To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.” In some places in the Bible, high places refer to places of false worship or idolatry; this is not the case in our text. Here, as well as in other instances in the Scripture, higher ground refers to elevated places of safety and protection. The psalmist put it this way, “lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Psalm 61:2).
Higher ground is a desired place to dwell, to be protected, and to worship. It represents a place higher than the world we live in, elevated above the strife and confusion of this earth – a place of refuge. God can help us walk above the world. In the high places, our hearts are full of praise for our great God. In the high places, we are enabled to rejoice in the presence of the Lord and live by faith. In the high places, we see that God is sufficient for the needs of our lives; and we are assured that His way is perfect. In the high places, we live not by sight, but by faith. In the high places, we are not overcome by the snares of this world but are more than conquerors through the grace and power of Jesus Christ.
In the high places, we see that our preferences and personal agendas are petty, and the things that really matter are those things that please Him and further His kingdom. In the high places, we are delivered from fear and worry and are made to rest in the presence of the King. In the high places, we fellowship with the One that “treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name” (Amos 4:13). In the words of the hymn writer, “I’m pressing on the upward way, New heights I’m gaining every day,” and in another verse, “My heart has no desire to stay, Where doubts arise and fears dismay; Tho’ some may dwell where these abound, My prayer, my aim is higher ground.”