Faith And Thankfulness In Hard Times

Faith and Thankfulness in Hard Times

Habakkuk 3:16-19

#Thanksgiving2019

INTRODUCTION… http://www.supersummary.com/hinds-feet-on-high-places/summary/ (adapted)

“Hinds’ Feet on High Places” is an allegorical novel by Hannah Hurnard that illustrates the Christian journey from an immature believer to a mature believer. It was published in 1955 and follows the story of a girl named Much-Afraid through her journey to the peak of a mountain.

Much-Afraid is an orphan with deformities in her face and feet. She speaks slowly and has trouble walking. She lives in the Valley of Humiliation with her adoptive Family of Fearings. She begins to work for the Chief Shepherd whom they despise. They try to remove her from his service by insisting she marry a member of their family, Craven Fear. She cries to the Chief Shepherd that she wishes to journey to the High Places.

He introduces her to Sorrow and Suffering who will travel with her. She is frightened, but she is dedicated to the Shepherd, so she sets off. She follows a path he gave her, going through the forest of Danger and Tribulation, the Furnace of Egypt, the Valley of Loss, and the Precipice of Injury. She even makes it through the Grave on the Mountains.

As she goes on her journey, people from her adoptive family follow her and taunt her, hoping to sabotage her mission. Resentment, Bitterness, Craven Fear, Pride, and Self Pity attempt to drag down her journey and make her turn back to the Valley of Humiliation.

She is purified by all her trials and is able to reach the High Places. At the Place of Anointing, she realizes that her heart has grown bigger. She receives a new name, Grace and Glory, and she realizes how she has transformed through her dedication to the journey. Sorrow and Suffering have become Joy and Peace. She reflects on all that has taken place. The Shepherd brings her to the cliff to look out over the Valley of Humiliation, and Grace and Glory realizes that what she thought was malice in her family is suffering. After careful consideration with the King, she and the Shepherd decide to return to the Valley of Humiliation to bring her good news back to them to free them as well.

The story is an allegory for the journey of a Christian to Christ. Every name in the book is the embodiment of some part of the human condition, both good and bad. Everything that Much-Afraid experiences is directly related to what our spirits go through as we grow up and learn to connect with Christ.

ILLUSTRATION… https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1128612-hinds-feet-on-high-places

Hannah Hurnard, the author says, “There are no obstacles which our Savior’s love cannot overcome. The High Places of victory and union with Christ can be reached by learning to accept, day by day, the actual conditions and tests permitted by God, by laying down of our own will and accepting His. The lessons of accepting and triumphing over evil, of becoming acquainted with grief, and pain, and of finding them transformed into something incomparably precious; these are the lessons of the allegory in this book.”

The reason I bring up this particular book is that the title of the book and some of the metaphor was inspired by a verse in Habakkuk which is in the passage we are going to dig into today. The book was inspired by verse 19 in chapter 3 of the Old Testament Book of Habakkuk.

BACKGROUND OF HABAKKUK (Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, pgs 528-529) (adapted)

The Book of Habakkuk is probably not one of those books that we study often. Habakkuk contains three short chapters. In the first two chapters, we find Habakkuk questioning God and complaining that God will use the Babylonians to discipline the People of Israel. Injustice fills God’s people. Idolatry fills God’s people. As a result, God will send the Babylonians to judge His people. So chapters 1 and 2 we find a back and forth question and answer session between the Almighty God and the lowly prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk understands the holiness of God and the judgment that will come is because of the unrighteousness of Israel. Chapter 3 is a beautiful song of praise to God where Habakkuk stands in awe of God and His mercy even in the midst of the discipline of Israel.

Let’s read from Habakkuk 3:16-19. What we are going to find today is encouragement to be thankful in the midst of hard times. There are days and weeks or maybe even seasons of life that are harder than they need to be and Habakkuk has a word for us on being thankful in the midst of days that we would rather just forget. And in the midst of digging into Habakkuk 3, we will also get some insight from Hannah Hurnard’s allegorical book “Hinds’ Feet on High Places.”