On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me feet like hinds’ feet (Habakkuk 3:19).

One of the problems I had with Christianity before I became a Christian was when the saints only looked for hope in the “by and by” and not the here and now. They talked so much about heaven and only longed to be there that some of their prayer meetings could have easily been pity party suicide watches. While they talked about their rough lives that Jesus would save them from in the by and by, I wondered when the day might be that they would check out of the here and now to hurry the by and by. Perhaps some of the saints never read Habakkuk 3:18-19:

Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God [is] my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ [feet], and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. . . .

Here we see that we should rejoice in the Lord because 1) He is the God of our salvation; this salvation isn’t reserved only for heaven but for here and now. 2) “The LORD God [is] my strength” is very present tense and because it is, “he will make my feet like hinds’ [feet]….” And hinds’ feet are equipped to travel easily through rough spots, like the high places of mountains with its rugged terrain. We all have our high places to travel, but we are equipped to walk them, with the God of our salvation, Jesus, whose name means Jehovah is salvation.

This present day salvation is one of the reasons I became a Christian. Though I had often counted on being a strong black woman saving me, I secretly knew my weaknesses couldn’t keep me together. I needed someone whose power works best in my weakness, whose grace would abound in my sin. Jesus covers me every time. That’s how right now salvation works, and I don’t have to sing and struggle until my ultimate salvation but allow the God in me do His perfect work.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith