Part 5: The Strength That Comes From Trusting God Alone Series

Here's what I've been realizing this week: we've spent five weeks together learning how to stand in the wreckage. How to trust when nothing changes. How to move when the way is unclear.

But I wonder if some of you are still waiting for God to change your valley. Still praying for the easy path. Still hoping for the exit.

But that's not what God promised. God doesn't promise to remove the mountain. God promises to give you the feet to climb it. This isn't a series about changing your circumstances. It's a series about changing your character. Not a new valley. A new elevation.

And now, in this final moment, we discover what holds us when everything else lets go. Not a different situation. A different strength.

WHAT HABAKKUK DOES NOT SAY

Listen to Habakkuk 3:19: "The Sovereign LORD is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; He enables me to tread on the heights."

But before we hear what he says, notice what he doesn't say. Because what Habakkuk refuses to say is just as important as what he does.

He does not say: "The harvest is my strength." He's learned that harvests can fail. But God cannot fail.

He does not say: "The economy is my strength." Economies collapse. But God is eternally stable.

He does not say: "The outcome is my strength." Outcomes might not be what we want. But God Himself God's character, God's faithfulness, God's presence that's what we can stand on.

So, what does he say? "The Sovereign LORD is my strength." This is covenant language. When resources fail, relationship remains. When systems collapse, the Savior sustains. When everything shakes, one thing stands unmoved. God.

FEET LIKE DEER

Habakkuk uses a beautiful image: "He makes my feet like the feet of a deer."

Have you ever watched a deer move? They're remarkable creatures. A deer can climb steep heights that would terrify a human. A deer can find purchase on rocky cliffs where there seems to be nothing solid to stand on.

But here's how a deer actually stays sure-footed on impossible terrain: their back feet land exactly where their front feet just were. They don't have to look ahead to the peak. They don't have to see the whole path. They just trust the placement of the first step. One hoof placed in faith. Then the next hoof placed in the same spot.

That is faith. Stepping exactly where God has already cleared the way, without needing to see the whole path. You don't have to see the peak. You don't have to understand the whole journey. You just have to trust the hoof-print of the One who went before you.

This is so important: Faith does not remove our difficulties. But faith teaches us how to stand in the pain. Faith teaches us how to move through what we cannot change. The mountain is still there. But now you have the feet to climb it.

THE JOURNEY RECAPPED

Before we go deeper, let me take you back through these five weeks. Habakkuk didn't start at faith. He started in collapse.

Week 1: We learned to face our collapse honestly. Faith begins with naming the loss. The fig tree doesn't bud. The vine has no grapes. Everything has failed. Faith isn't the absence of the storm. It is the presence of the Savior in the wreckage.

Week 2: We learned the difference between optimism and faith. Optimism is a thermometer it reads the temperature of your circumstances. But faith is a thermostat it changes the climate of your soul. God's goodness is unwavering, His sovereignty is unshakable, and His faithfulness is unfailing.

Week 3: We learned that praise is a protest. When you lift your voice in worship in the middle of pain, you're making a declaration. Joy in the wreckage is not a feeling it's a protest against the darkness.

Week 4: We learned that faith is not passive it's active. Faith is a verb. It's something you do. We learned the Four D's: Devotion, Doxology, Dependence, Duty. We picked up our hammers and got to the weight room.

Week 5 Today: We learned that the strength comes from trusting God alone. After facing collapse, after shifting to faith, after protesting through praise, after acting through seasons of waiting we finally discover the source. It's not our strength. It's His.

THREE MARKS OF MOUNTAIN-CLIMBING FAITH

I want to be very clear about what kind of faith Habakkuk is describing. This faith has three marks that distinguish it.

MATURE FAITH: It believes in the dark. Shallow faith praises when the sun is shining. But mature faith believes when everything is falling apart. Mature faith trusts when there's no proof at all, only a person to trust.

RESILIENT FAITH: It bounces back from the bad news. Fragile faith breaks the first-time circumstances don't cooperate. But resilient faith survives anything because it's not dependent on circumstances. It's dependent on God. And God doesn't change.