Are you facing a mountainous trial today? The Lord is leading you to a higher path on the other side of that hardship.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a favorite memory.
And I sure have a lot of them. I was looking through some old childhood photos recently, one in particular when I was a kid. I was with my family heading to the Rockies to visit my Uncle Ted, whose ranch was situated just west of Denver. Now this was back in the 50s, okay, and it seemed like it took forever to even get close to Colorado on the map. After we crossed the border from Nebraska and finally started our trek across the Rocky Mountain state, I was just a kid, but I kept searching the horizon for the first signs of mountains. And soon I saw them, rising off the plain like a craggy, frightening fortress. This was so exciting for me, a kid on my first trip West.
Daddy was driving a beat-up old Dodge truck, and I worried that we would never make it to those high peaks. Finally, when we were at the base of the frontal range, the narrow road west of Denver twisted and turned up these mountains. The higher we went, the more the engine groaned. Daddy kept switching down into low gear, all the while keeping a close watch on the temperature gauge. Would we make it to the top? And what would it be like at the top of a real mountain? What was it like up there? I mean, all I could imagine was being stranded on the tippy-top spike of some mountain spire.
Well, was I in for a surprise when we finally did arrive at the summit. As we rounded the last peak at Kenosha Pass, the road sloped out onto this high, broad, beautiful mountain plateau. And as far as the eye could see, there was flat grassland with small ranches and cows grazing. We left the craggy mountains of the Front Range behind us and spent the rest of that time on the higher ground of a beautiful mountain plateau.
2 Samuel 22:37 says, “You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.” You know, that verse, to me, is a perfect description of the Christian life because our trials do appear to be mountainous obstacles – right? – that loom ahead of us. All we can see is frightening heights from which we might possibly fall, scary ledges to stumble off of, and pinnacles that make our heads spin. And we question what’s waiting for us at the crest of our trial. What will the other side be like? Will we be stuck? Will we be stranded? But once by God’s grace we arrive on the other side of that trial, we find we have climbed to a higher plateau. That’s what 2 Samuel 22 describes. Like the words in that old hymn, “I am pressing on the upward way; new heights I’m gaining every day. Still praying as I’m onward bound, Lord plant my feet on higher ground. Lord lift me up and let me stand, by faith on heaven’s tableland: a higher plain than I have found, Lord plant my feet on higher ground.”
So, are you facing a mountainous trial today? Well, it’s not as scary as you think. The Lord knows where he is leading you; and it’s not some dizzying height from which you will surely fall. No, after the trial, there is a plain, there’s a plateau, there’s a broader path. And it’s not only broader, it’s higher. When we come through a trial holding onto the Lord Jesus, we discover that – oh, my goodness – I’m living on higher ground. So be mindful today that your heavenly Father is leading you over rough terrain to a broad path. And if you feel afraid, just picture that beautiful plateau of rest, peace, and increased confidence in God, clearer vision, higher hopes, and a firmer conviction that, yes, God knew all along the heights to which he was taking you. So I will say to you as I often remind myself, “Onward and upward” – upward to higher ground.
© Joni and Friends