We all have low places in life.
Hospital waiting rooms, funerals, half-empty bank accounts, hard marriages, and chronic illness are just a few. Low places take us to the bottom of ourselves and leave us feeling down.
Friend, you may be walking through a low place right now.
If that’s where you find yourself today, you’re not alone. There are many people in the pages of Scripture who had times when they felt abandoned, scared, weary, and worn out. Habakkuk was one of them.
And, if you’re struggling, his story gives great insight into how you can make it through the low places. Habakkuk asked the same questions you may be pondering in your low place.
How long, Lord, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’
but you do not save?
Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?” (Habakkuk 1:2-3)
He was so upset because his country was in terrible spiritual decline. Habakkuk had trouble reconciling what he saw with what He knew about God. He didn’t understand what was going on and why God was seemingly letting it happen.
On today’s episode of the 4:13 Podcast, KC and I look at Habakkuk’s response to the low places He faced. You’ll learn how to make even the lowest times of your life, the high places of your faith. Plus, you’re going to gain two practical ways to get through your low places.
3 Low Places You May Face
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…” (Habakkuk 3:17)
- Insecurity and illness. The fig represented prosperity and peace to the ancients. It took years to grow a fig tree. Habakkuk’s beloved land was to be attacked by the enemy, and the fig trees would be destroyed. No peace and no provision would remain. Sometimes the “fig trees” in our lives are destroyed too. We find ourselves in a low place without job security and in need.
Figs were also used medicinally. They were boiled, and a poultice was made and used for healing. Sometimes the “fig doesn’t blossom” for us when our health fails, and we find ourselves in the low place of illness or disability.
- Relational and spiritual disappointment. Olives can represent two very dear things in our lives: our children and our spiritual life.
Psalm 128:3 refers to our children as “olive plants around our table.” What if the “olive fails” by choosing a path that breaks our hearts? That’s such a painful, low place.
And, olives were used for anointing oil in temple service. What if spiritually you’re disappointed because your church or spiritual leader fails to follow God? That’s a lonely low place too.
- Financial difficulty or job loss. The flocks and cattle were the sustenance for the people. They represented labor and care and could be wiped out in an instant by the enemy.
What if you lose your job or your years of labor are easily dismissed, and there are “no herds in the stall”? That’s certainly a low place emotionally and it’s an empty place when it comes to having your needs met.
2 Ways You Can Make Your Low Places High Places
Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.” (Habakkuk 3:18-19)
- You make God your strength. God had become Habakkuk’s strength. That’s why he could hold his head high and rejoice. Low places introduce us to our weakness and illuminate God’s strength. They can point us to our high God and humble us.
C.S. Lewis wrote, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” God is above us. High and lifted up. So, in a low place, we can look up, give praise, and ask God to become our strength. We can praise Him from the pit when we rightly name Him as high and strong.
As we praise and rejoice in Him, His joy becomes our strength. He does not just give you strength, but He becomes your strength.
- He makes your feet like hinds’ feet. God also made Habakkuk’s “feet like hinds’ feet” and made him walk on his “high places” (Habakkuk 3:19). What does this mean for you?
A hind is a female deer that can place her back feet exactly where her front feet stepped. Not one inch off! She can run freely. When danger is chasing her, she can run without getting off track. The hind can scale tough terrain and dodge predators.
The point is that God will give you spiritual hinds’ feet. He will provide you with the ability to run freely, unencumbered. He will give you what you need to scale the mountains you face. Your low place will become a pit if you dig your feet in and refuse to move forward in faith. That’s why you trust God to make your spiritual feet like hinds’ feet so you can keep walking by faith!
If you are in a low place right now, rejoice in the Lord. Ask Him to become your strength and to give you the spiritual hinds’ feet to walk forward in faith. Friend, He will. God will make the low places in your life the high places of your history. So, trust Him and keep walking by faith.
Because, no matter what you face or wherever you are right now, you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength.
Related Resources
Books and Bible Studies by Jennifer Rothschild
- God Is Just Not Fair: Finding Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense
- Missing Pieces: Real Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense Bible Study
Links Mentioned in This Episode
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If you’re in a low place today, how can we pray for you?
