2 SAMUEL - Like a Deer

I used to be a lot more coordinated when I was young.

I’m not saying that I’m a klutz – (there’s plenty of other people that can say that for me!!) – it’s just that I’m not quite as steady as I used to be.

I had a rather nasty stumble this past September. One second I was walking – SPLAT – the next second I was flat on the ground. Falling can happen quickly.

It can happen quickly in our spiritual lives, too.

One second we’re walking along securely, confidently, in the Lord – content in our lives, sure in our faith – when something comes along to trip up our feet of faith.

We stumble, sometimes we fall.

We get “off track.”

There are many things that can happen to “trip us up” spiritually. It can be a “curve ball” life circumstance. It can be something that happens to us or to a loved one – an injury, or illness, or even death. It can be financial, or emotional, or physical. Sometimes it’s spiritual. It can be an attack from the enemy, a temptation.

What are we to do?

It doesn’t matter what the "upset" is that gets us off track. It doesn’t matter what took our focus off of God and His purposes.

He wants to restore us to sure footing.

Today’s “Bible Pick ‘Ems” comes from the book of 2 Samuel:

“He [God] makes me as surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights.” (2 Samuel 22:34)

How surefooted is a deer?

I like to watch documentaries about nature, especially about animals. I remember watching one that showed a deer trying to escape a predator. The predator was very swift, and was closing in on the tiny deer as it attempted to run away. All of a sudden, the deer began a rapid descent down a craggy, sheer cliff face. The predator tried to keep up, but the deer was always a little faster.

It was an amazing sight!

The little deer leaped from one stony outcropping to another. It balanced on surfaces barely larger than its little hooves. It scrambled over loose rocks, up and down, until the predator grew tired and gave up.

The deer ran with abandonment. It ran securely.

In today’s verses, David is praising God for being delivered from his enemies. He is acknowledging that it is only God who can make us “surefooted” enough to run with abandonment, to run securely.

God doesn’t promise to eliminate challenges from our lives. There will be treacherous cliff faces to negotiate. We will have to scramble our way through some tough life circumstances. We might even need to outrun an enemy.

But, God does promise to give us strength to meet these challenges. He will enable us to stand.

We cannot grow spiritually, we cannot have a strong faith without having to navigate some treacherous cliff faces from time to time.

Rough roads to walk, mountains to climb, battles to fight – these are what make patience and endurance manifest in our lives. These are what make us learn trust and obedience. These are what forge steadfast, immovable hearts that stand firm in the Lord.

Through all things, whether of our own mistakes, or the mistakes of others, or the frailties and fickleness of life circumstances, or the traps and temptations of the enemy – God is faithful to “keep us on track.”

He will strengthen us to run with abandonment, to run securely, to be “surefooted” on the crags, loose rocks, and sheer cliff faces of life.

For He desires to place us on the “heights!”

“You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping.”

(Psalm 18:36)

“When in doubt, search God out!”