Habakkuk 3:19 - Summer of Scripture

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Wow. Welcome to Summer of Scripture on the Naked marriage podcast. For 66 days in a row, we are releasing a daily devotional episode for your marriage. And over these 66 days, we're going to pull out one scripture from each of the 66 books of the Bible and talk about how it applies to your marriage. So if you listen to every single one of these episodes, you're going to have a comprehensive understanding of God's plan. And for your marriage, we encourage you to listen to everyone. Let's dive into today's scripture.

Hey there. Welcome back to the Summer of Scripture on the Naked Marriage podcast. We're so glad that you joined us, you guys. We are 35 days in what today we have maybe like, I think it's maybe the most fun name to say from the Bible, maybe Habakkuk and read from that book. It's so fun.

Habakkuk.

I've never met someone named Habakkuk, but I like it. All right, so Habakkuk 3:19 says this, the sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes me as sure footed as a deer able to tread upon the heights. And I don't know about you, like we live in Georgia, we're filming in Texas right now, but in Georgia, where we live, imagine all these trees. I mean, just very green, all these trees. And if you're in that part of the United States, wherever there are tall trees, there are deer. And so we see many, many deer all the time, even in our neighborhood. Cause we live kind of across from a little forested and you know, I love it. The Bible uses deer in a lot of verses, which is really cool. But like if you can think about if you've ever seen a deer navigating like a treacherous area, which we've seen and we've seen deer. You know, we drive going home to Kentucky, we drive through the mountains of Tennessee, like the Great Smoky Mountains. You know, you can see deer like trying to be sure footed through those mountains on the rocky parts and on the dirt parts and going through a root system that's kind of gnarly and different things that could be hard to get through. And I love this verse and how it's describing that God can help us through seasons of life where we, we feel like we're that deer trying to navigate hard places, that we can be sure footed.

Yeah.

And you know, I think that having that assurance in the Lord of knowing, okay, I'm not alone in this, that carries us through all kinds of seasons. But I even, I think especially as it relates to marriage.

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Yes, it does. And you know, one thing that a deer will do in addition to being very like sure footed, but part of how they're sure footed is they will. They're not afraid to be still for long periods of time.

Yes, yes.

Like a deer will just stop and pause and wait there for a very long time. Make sure the situation's clear.

It will.

And they can move very quickly when they need to, of course, but sometimes we need to just stop, be still, and know that he is God.

Yes.

In our lives, if you're like me, you get restless and you're a little bit of a control freak and you just want to constantly plow ahead. And sometimes what God's calling us to do is just pause, just stop right where you are. Just plant your feet right where you are. Be still and know that he is God. Take in what's happening around you. Take in a deep breath, say a prayer, and don't just try to rush through life. I think that the breakneck pace of life can cause so much stress on a marriage, on our mental health, on all aspects of life, and the world just keeps getting faster and busier. And I think God is calling us to live in a countercultural way where we can slow down, we can be still and know that he is God. And coming back to that sure footed metaphor in the psalms, it says his word is a lamp to our feet, a light to our path. A lamp to your feet means he just gives us enough light to know where that one next step is. He doesn't shine the light way out front of us to show us what the whole journey is going to be like. We want the whole picture all at once. We want to know start to finish, map it out. How long is it going to take? Where am I going to have to turn? And God wants us to trust him just one step at a time. Even if that one step is just to stand still and wait on his timing, to trust Him. And if we'll do that, he's gonna guide us. He's not gonna let us fall.

Yeah, it's so true. And you know, back to what you were saying about stillness, I think that that is something that we don't necessarily value as an American culture. I think there's other cultures in the world that really get this more, you know. And I know in certain parts of Europe, and even like you've heard the term siesta, like in some of the, the Latin cultures where they have a time of rest and that's like celebrated and it's like, why would you not, you know. And I think that for some reason as Americans, like, we just don't do that very well, generally speaking. You know, there's these places that have a four day work week, so they can have a three day weekend. And it's like, I think that sounds awesome, but I think that as Americans, there's something in our culture where it's like that they look down on rest sometimes, we look down on rest sometimes. And I feel like that that's being changed maybe a little bit, but I think it's showing in a lot of the things that we deal with with mental health. You know, it's just really hard to be healthy mentally if you're never truly resting. And what we mean by resting too, and I'm talking to myself here, is when you are trying to rest, like let's say you're in your bed, you're trying to maybe have a power nap or trying to just have a moment. Maybe we don't, maybe we're not on our phones. Cause I think that, like, I know for me I struggle with a lot of the work we do is from a laptop or from our phone. And if I am sitting trying to rest, I, I feel like I need to be doing a poster. I feel like I need to be doing something else. And I think what we really need to do is truly rest, pray, actually take a nap, like just do something that really restores you, that really replenishes you. And I think as married people, make sure that we're having times where we rest with our spouse, where we have a time where we just sit together in silence or have a conversation that we've been needing to have for a long time and just really rest together. I think that's so important. And we've had a hard time doing this because we work together. So there's always something we could do.

There's always something kind of quote, productive we could do. But sometimes rest is the most productive thing you could do.

It is.

And it reminds you that God is in control. And that's why God built so much rhythm of rest.

Like a Sabbath.

That's why we need a Sabbath. We really, really do. And so talk about that with your spouse. You know, like how God needs to guide your steps in this season so you can be sure footed as a deer. But also the rest part, like how, how can we be still more often? And what would that look like? What do we need to eliminate from the crazy pace of our lives? And I think it could lead to some great conversations. Thanks so much for tuning in today, guys. I hope it was an encouragement to you. Join us tomorrow. Day 36 will be in the book of Zephaniah. We'll see you then.