Living By Faith When Your World is Falling Apart- Part 6
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Text: Habakkuk 3
Text: Habakkuk 3
INTRODUCTION
Living by Faith When Your World is Falling Apart
Habakkuk 3
Turn in your bibles to Habakkuk Chapter 3. This morning we will complete our series in the book of Habakkuk, that has been titled, Living By Faith When Your World is Falling Apart.
The prophet Habakkuk, you may recall, lived in the southern kingdom of Judah in and was a contemporary of Jeremiah the prophet, in a day when the nation was spiritually adrift, and had morally collapsed, which had troubled Habakkuk and rightfully so. He had prayed long and hard for God to do something about the injustices and violence within the land, and was perplexed, because by God’s seeming indifference, which didn’t make any sense to him.
Well, as you know, God finally did answer him, but not in the way he had expected, because God informed him that, unbeknownst to him, the Chaldeans, aka the Babylonians were the instrument God would use to chasten his people, which Habakkuk which perplexed the prophet even more that God would use a nation more wicked then his own nation to chasten Judah. How can a God who is pure holy use wicked people to judge Judah which was bad, but not as bad as the Chaldeans.
Chapter 2 gives us God’s answer… which came to Habakkuk in a vision, which we could briefly summarize in two ways:
1) that the righteous will live by faith and will continue to trust God even when they do not understand what is happening or why something is happening because their faith is in God Himself.
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“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
2) Secondly that because God is holy and just He will punish those nations that do evil, and so while the Chaldeans would be an instrument in God’s had to chasten Judah, God would destroy them in the end, because of their sin as would also be true of any other nations that would follow in their footsteps and become like them.
Chapter 2nd ends in verse 20 with the words… But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.
This brings us to chapter 3, which gives us Habakkuk’s response to the vision which God had given him. The chapter is introduced for us with the words…
Verse 1 begins with the words ...
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Habakkuk 3:1 (ESV)
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
Shigionoth isn’t a word that we normally use. An usual word. The word is only found in one other place in the OT, which is at the introduction of Psalm 7 at the introduction of the psalm it says...
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Psalm 7 (ESV)
A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.
The word Shigianoth comes from a root word which means “to reel to and fro” and refers to a song that was played or sung with great excitement or with rapid changes of emotion.
The NASB has a note which says “It is a highly emotional poetic form that may refer to a wild passionate song with rapid changes of rhythm which is presumably the reason why the Amplified Bible says it this way....
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to wild, enthusiastic, and triumphal music.
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Habakkuk 3:19
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
You will also notice that within the prayer, which is written as a psalm, that the word Selah is used 3X . In verse 3, 9, and 13. Word Selah is a musical pause. A place for brief reflection on the words that have just been sung.
This poetic prayer of Habakkuk was written to be sung aloud by future generations is not a funeral dirge. Some very bad things, devastating things were about to happen to the nation, their land was about to be taken from them, their temple was about to be ransacked, and the people were about to be carried away as prisoners to a foreign land. One would think that that melancholy and sad music would be more appropriate to write than music that is wild, enthusiastic and triumphal.
GREG ELECTROCUTED pastoring a church is southern mn, had Christian school, Greg grad from the school and went off the Bible college for hid first year of college. The following summer he worked construction. One day at a construction site a crane was being used to move materials. Greg had his chest up against the what was being moved to provide direction on the ground when the boom of the crane came in contact with a high wire, he was electrocuted. I still remember the funeral and watching as his parents followed the casket of their son after the service as we sang the old hymn o Victory in Jesus my savior forever he sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew him, all my love is due him, he plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood.
And yet, this is what Habakkuk wrote, and it is what he prayed on the verge of the dreadful judgment of God that was ready to fall upon him and his countryman. And the fact that his prayer song was to be written down, so that it might be sung by the very people who would be taken into captivity and would spend the next 70 years of their life (if they lived that long) as prisoners in Babylon. This prayer was for them. This prayer was to become their prayer. It was written to encourage them and to strengthen their faith during the difficult days that were ahead of them.
Trust the Lord will use this portion of His Word to encourage our hearts and to strengthen our faith and trust in Him, that no matter what we may be going through or may go through down the road, that we may take these words to heart ourselves.
Read the Chapter.
Habakkuk 3 (ESV)
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
2 O Lord, I have heard the report of you,
and your work, O Lord, do I fear.
In the midst of the years revive it;
in the midst of the years make it known;
in wrath remember mercy.
3 God came from Teman,
and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah
His splendor covered the heavens,
and the earth was full of his praise.
4 His brightness was like the light;
rays flashed from his hand;
and there he veiled his power.
5 Before him went pestilence,
and plague followed at his heels.
6 He stood and measured the earth;
he looked and shook the nations;
then the eternal mountains were scattered;
the everlasting hills sank low.
His were the everlasting ways.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;
the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
8 Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord?
Was your anger against the rivers,
or your indignation against the sea,
when you rode on your horses,
on your chariot of salvation?
9 You stripped the sheath from your bow,
calling for many arrows. Selah
You split the earth with rivers.
10 The mountains saw you and writhed;
the raging waters swept on;
the deep gave forth its voice;
it lifted its hands on high.
11 The sun and moon stood still in their place
at the light of your arrows as they sped,
at the flash of your glittering spear.
12 You marched through the earth in fury;
you threshed the nations in anger.
13 You went out for the salvation of your people,
for the salvation of your anointed.
You crushed the head of the house of the wicked,
laying him bare from thigh to neck. Selah
14 You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors,
who came like a whirlwind to scatter me,
rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret.
15 You trampled the sea with your horses,
the surging of mighty waters.
16 I hear, and my body trembles;
my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;
my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
to come upon people who invade us.
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes m
The prayer of Habakkuk the prophet could be easily divided into two sections. We have in verse 2 the petitions or requests that Habbakuk made. They are the only petitions in the prayer or psalm. The rest of the chapter verses 3-18, is given over to the praise of God for who He is and for what He has done on behalf of Israel.
There are THREE responses from Habakkuk to the vision which God had given to him upon which we shall divide our thoughts this morning.
I. HE MAKES REQUESTS OF THE LORD V 2
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2 O Lord, I have heard the report of you,
and your work, O Lord, do I fear.
In the midst of the years revive it;
in the midst of the years make it known;
in wrath remember mercy.
He begins with the words, O LORD…rather than turning to one of the other prophets in Jerusalem for counsel on what to do…He immediately turns to the Lord in prayer, as if its second nature to him. He may not have heard what he wanted to hear from God, but that didn’t turn him away from God, but drove him even closer to God.
I have heard the report of you. The Hebrew word for report is used in Isaiah 53:1 where God is speaking prophetically about the coming of His Son, His Crucifixion and Exaltation.
Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
The words what he has heard are translated heard the report in Habakkuk. Simply means that Habakkuk had heard from God and He believed every word that God had revealed or given to him, which is always a good place to start, is it not?
Even if we don’t have all of our questions answered.
Habakkuk started his book with a lot of questions that he asked God.
Habakkuk 1:3 (ESV)
Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?
Habakkuk 1:13 (ESV)
You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?
Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?
He’s questioning God. He’s not being disrespectful, He has a deep burden to bring before God. But that was before. He’s a different man in Chapter 3 than he was in Chapter 1. And it is not because all of his questions have been answered, because they weren’t all answered, anymore than all of our questions will be answered. But he’s come to a place in which he sees God differently, at least in the sense of understanding that all of His ways, not just some, but all of his ways are holy and just, which would include his judgments, even those that would come from the hands of the wicked Chaldeans,
Jehosophat the king of Judah appointed judges in the cities of Judah, city by city and this words to those whom he appointed as judges was...
2 Chronicles 19:7 (ESV)
Now then, let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the Lord our God,”
Habakkuk acknowledges that there is no injustice with the Lord His God…not merely as an academic truth, but from a humble and submissive heart, he comes to the Lord in prayer, but he has some fear doesn’t he. He has heard from GOD and he trembles at what he has heard.
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All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.
Habakkuk 3:2 (ESV)
O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear.
In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.
aWhich leads us to ask, what is the work of God?
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Well, contextually, we can go back to Habakkuk 1:5-6
“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.
He goes on to describe their fierceness and ferocity which was well known by then…and if he stop to consider the words of the prophets that were spoken before this time and how they gave specific details of the pain and suffering that would be inflicted upon the people and upon their land…its no wonder that Habakkuk would have some fear and trembling… if not for himself for his people. Habakkuk is real…he says
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I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.
He doesn’t say the day of trouble that will come upon us, but the day of trouble that will come upon people who invades us, and we already know who they are. So the work of God spoken of in verse 2 would include his judgment upon the Chaldeans, which would happen 70 years after their invasion as they would be utterly destroyed and decimated by the Persians. But in the midst of all of this, God was working to accomplish His purpose and His plans for His Chosen People, something Habakkuk knows is true.
That being said… notice three things that Habakkuk prays for.
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He prays for Revival
O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.
In the midst of the years…the years between the time when their captivity began to the time when Cyrus the King of Persia stirred by the Lord issued an edict which allowed them to return to their homeland, which a small remnant did.
And so this prayer of Habakkuk in which he prays for a reviving work of God is more than him just saying, bring on your judgments, he saying, Lord revive your people, because they are your work.
The word revive (chayah) comes from a Hebrew word that means, to give life, to bring back to life or to restore to a place of favor and blessings.
The word is frequently used in the OT with reference to Israel.
Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. Selah You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger. Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us! Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.
Psalm 69:30–36 (ESV)
I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs. When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive. For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
Hosea prophesied to the norther kingdom of Israel a couple of centuries before Habakkuk. In his book, he describes God’s relentless love for His people and His willingness to forgive them of their sin and idolatry if they turn back to him with a repentant heart and faith.
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“Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”
The two days or third day are not meant to be taken literally but refer to something that will happen within a short period of time. You will see a similar expression used in Isaiah 17:6 and Luke 13: 32-33.
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Let us test and examine our ways,
and return to the Lord!
Let us lift up our hearts and hands
to God in heaven:
Habakkuk would have had these truths in mind when he prays for revival.
And I should point out, that God did answer his prayer.
Ezra was a Jewish priest who was exiled into Babylon and returned to Jerusalem. God used his leadership to help generate a revival among the Jews as they resettled in the land. Ezra had just finished taking a dang 4 month journey from Babylon to Jerusalem, and upon his1 arrival he was informed that the people were committing he same sins that had brought about theit judgment and captivity.
Ezra 9:1–4 (ESV)
As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice.
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5 And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, 6 saying:
“O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. 7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. 8 But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. 9 For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.
evening sacrifice 3pm…fell on his knees…Solomon prayed on his knees 1kings 8;54; the psalmist called us to kneel before the LORD psalm 95;6 Daniel prayed on his knees Dan 6;10; Stephen prayed on his knees Acrs 7;60; Peter, Paul, JESUS. not a religious requirement but it does show us that it is good Ezra reflected on the remarkable goodness of God in bringing a remnant of his people from exile and allowing them to have a secure hold, a peg in holy place a secure place and standing. In those days houses didn’t have cupboards or storage closets as we think of them. Things were store on pegs set up around the room if something was on a peg was safe and secure. Nkjv a peg in his holy place
2. Prayed for God’s Glory
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O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.
The word “It” which is used twice in verse 2 is not in the original text.
A literal translation of the text reads… “In the midst of the years revive. In the midst of the years make known.
And the question is make what know? It could be make your work known, but more likely make yourself know, make your glory know. I believe that’s whats on the heart of the prophet. He wants Gods glory to be made know; to be proclaimed among his people and throughout the entire world. God is jealous for His glory.
3. Prayed for Mercy - In wrath remember mercy. Notice he does not say remember our merits, as if that would do them or us any God.
Do you know where the mercy of God and wrath of God meet? They meet perfectly at the cross of Jesus. why did Jesus die? To demonstrated God’s justice, and that we cannot enter into his presence without an atoning sacrifice. The cross is a display of God’s justice, under his wrath. It is also a display of God’s love and mercy- So that those who believe on Jesus, the wrath of God does not all on us because it already fell on Him, as our Savior. Have you trusted in Him- the Perfect Sinners prayer, in wrath remember mercy. God I deserve your wrath, but I come to you through Jesus and what he did on the cross for me.
Move rather quickly through this next section… First response was to make requests of the Lord.
II. HE REVELS (not in a bad sense but in a good sense) IN THE SPLENDOR, THE MAJESTY AND MIGHT OF THE LORD VERSES 3-15 (to take great pleasure or delight in something. To celebrate it to the fullest)
Remember this is a loud and triumphant psalm, one in which God’s glory is displayed by what is called a theophany, which is giving physical characteristics to God to showcase his power, His glory and his majesty HIS MIGHTY works particularly with reference to the deliverance from EGYPT with a strong and mighty hand, And overcoming all their enemies for them as he would bring them into the promised land
Habakkuk has been talking to God, now he shifts and begins talking about God. And use figurative language Similar to what you see in the psalms and in other places t
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God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah His splendor covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.
These terms are used by Moses in Deuteronomy 33:2 in relation to the area of Mount Sinai. Both locations are important to the wilderness wanderings when Israel came out from bondage in Egypt.
He said, “The Lord came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand.
Similar statements in the Song of Deborah and Barak in Judges 5:4-5
“Lord, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the region of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped, yes, the clouds dropped water. The mountains quaked before the Lord, even Sinai before the Lord, the God of Israel.
Habakkuk says…that is how our God came to us, and the word for GOD is ELOAH which means strong and mighty one; not only strong and might he is the holy one. spoken of his holiness… 1:12 are you not from everlasting p lord my god my holy one?
SELAH-
{SLIDE} likely reference to GODS APPEARANCE AT SINAI
His brightness was like the light; rays flashed from his hand; and there he veiled his power.
His glory was so radiant you recall that the face of Moses shone when he came down from the mountain, so bright that the people could not look upon his face.
Rays flashed from his hand, probably referring to the lightening that flashed around the mountain, the light show veiled his power.
Illus: Tornado
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Before him went pestilence, and plague followed at his heels. He stood and measured the earth; he looked and shook the nations; then the eternal mountains were scattered; the everlasting hills sank low. His were the everlasting ways.
Likely reference to the plaques that God sent upon Egypt that caused the children of Israel to be freed from slavery.
The NLT paraphrases: V 6 When he stops the earth shakes. When he looks (a mere glace from his eyes) the nations tremble. He shatters the everlasting mountains and levels the eternal hills. He is the eternal one”
Mountains may appear solid and unchanging but they aren not. In contrast with them the ways of the Lord are everlasting because He the only eternal one.
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I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
Cush and Midian are selected to illustrate how nations that opposed God and His people stood in fear of Him. Uses the first person I saw…presumably in the vision that he had from God.
THEN He asks God, referring to the events that surrounded Israels leaving Egypt and making their way to the Promised Land. IN VERSE 8
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Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord? Was your anger against the rivers, or your indignation against the sea, when you rode on your horses, on your chariot of salvation?
Nile River that was turned to blood. Or the Jordan River that they would later cross near Jericho.
The sea of course would be the Red Sea which was parted by a strong east wind that blew all night, even drying up the sea floor so the children of Israel could walk upon it… as God rode on his chariot of salvation, making a way where there was no way.
PAUSE TO SAY, God can do that for you. He can get you to where he wants to talk you. He may not open a sea or a river, but he may open a door, he can provide the means, he can bring the right person into your life, he can make a way when humanly speaking there is no way. His chariot is a chariot of salvation for His people.
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You stripped the sheath from your bow, calling for many arrows. Selah You split the earth with rivers. The mountains saw you and writhed; the raging waters swept on; the deep gave forth its voice; it lifted its hands on high.
Picture here is of an archer who has his bow and many arrows in hand, because he is a mighty warrior who has come to make war.
The waters lifting its hands, again a likely reference to the parting of the Red Sea.
He’s remembering history using glorious terms to describe what the Lord has done to deliver his people
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The sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they sped, at the flash of your glittering spear. You marched through the earth in fury; you threshed the nations in anger.
Reference no doubt is to Joshua 10 where Joshua prayed that the Lord would keep the sun from setting until they were able to defeat their enemy. And he did. Can you imagine what went into that. How do you stop our solar system from spinning to keep the sun from seating, our God can do that. He continues…
Your marched in fury, defeating the nations that stood in your way, threshing them as it were.
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You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. Selah
What a powerful verse. Pause and meditate on those words. You went out for the salvation of your anointed.
Throughout history God continues to act this way, delivering his people to save his anointed one. The story of the Bible is the story of Abraham to make of him a great nation into which he would bring believing Gentiles together they would become innumerable in number. To accomplish that, God had to deliver his anointed one (likely referring back to your people Israel. Through whom the Messiah, the Christ would one day come.
There are some who believe that the anointed is actually a reference to Christ, because it is in the singular noun. And that this passage is referring to Him and points to his coming. it is interesting to note that in Habakkuk 3:3 that the word for God that is used there, where it says God came from Teman and the Holy One from Mount Paran, that the word for God is Eloah, means strong and mighty one, not Elohim which is the usual word that is used for God, used over 2500x in the OtT which is plural noun because God is triune, 3 in one. But Eloah is a singular form of the noun. It may be that Elijah is being used to emphasize the unity of the Godhead, but some theologians believe that reference is being made of the Coming CChrist, Gods anointed one, who within a few short years after Jesus was born, he came out of Egypt after being taken there ,ago be protected from Herod, did many signs and wonders and died to execute Gods judgment on sin and to save his people from their enemies crushing the head of the house of the wicked laying him bare as it were from thigh to neck.
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And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
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You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors, who came like a whirlwind to scatter me, rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret. You trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters.
Again a likely reference to the Red Sea parting, bringing deliverance to His people.
And the point in this, and the point that is being driven home in these verses is that the God who delivered Israel in the past, is the same God that will deliver His people from the hands of their enemies and bring them back into the land God had given to them. He did it before…and He will do it again. Nothing can stop him, neither nations, nor nature can stop our God from fulfilling the promises he has made to us. Nothing!
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I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.
Which brings us finally to the third response of Habakkuk
REQUESTING OF THE LORD; REVELING IN THE SPLENDOR MAJESTY AND MIGHT OF THE LORD
3. REJOICING IN THE LORD
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Habakkuk 3:17–19 (ESV)
Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
Habakkuk is presenting the worst case scenario, the worst kind of circumstances, to say that no matter what bad things may happen, and they will happen, Habakkuk is determined to praise and rejoice in the God who will save Him and all who will trust in Him
I will rejoice…I will take joy.
One commentator points out that these words, back to back with the cohorative “I will” attached, is the strongest possible way to say that one is determined to rejoice in the Lord regardless of what does or does not happen, regardless of the circumstances, the disappointments, the difficulties that he might face.
Even if the price of eggs and groceries continue to rise; even if the stock market plummets wiping out my 401K; no lack of resources, no frigid temperature, no diagnosis, no sickness that can cut us off from others, nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus. Nothing! We take joy in the God who gives salvation, not just in the salvation itself.
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Habakkuk 3:18–19 (ESV)
Though… yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.`
nehemiah 8:10 says the joy of the Lord is your strength
He says…God the Lord is my strength. …he makes my feet like the deer’s which may actually be a reference to the IBEX which is one of the most sure footed animals that there is, which are in the Middle East.
Even though he would be going through perilous times, even though his legs may be shaking, the Lord would strengthen him to be sure footed to where he could more than survive, he could rejoice, he could worship, he could teach others to do the same, even when their world was falling apart, because God was their savior.