Mountains

Back to the Valley

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Recently we returned from our trip to Pennsylvania back to Florida. One of my favorite parts of that drive was the view as we descended into North Carolina. It may have looked a lot the same as the disciples came down from the mount of transfiguration. The truth however is that at the bottom of such a beautiful view lie our real life problems.

Instead of a home coming celebration, the first thing waiting for Peter, James and John in the valley was an embarrassing failure of faith. One father who had brought his son to the other disciples for help found out that Jesus’ followers were powerless his child. The harsh facts of suffering appeared to be greater than the prayers of God’s people.

But when Jesus came things changed. Jesus didn’t need a special meeting or even time to think up a solution. He simply said, “Bring him to Me.” When Jesus comes things change. Impossible problems find their answers.

Then Jesus answered … Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Matthew 17:17‭-‬18 NKJV

No matter what we are face to face with in life we can know that Jesus is also coming down into the valley for us. Unbearable circumstances will find release. Our hopeless hearts will receive help. And at the bottom of the valley of our struggles lie God’s answers to every one of our prayers!

God’s Panorama

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For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38‭-‬39 ESV

I love the vast panorama from the mountain ridges as we travel from North Carolina into Virginia. It gives us a revelation of astonishing beauty both where we’ve been and also where we are going. Then in it is gone and we simply move in between the folds of the hills.

In life all of us sometimes feel lost or trapped in the demands the stress and painful situations around us. They block our view until God brings us up high along the eternal ridge-line of His love. There with the apostle Paul we get a glimpse of that amazing love of Jesus Christ that refreshes our faith. There we gain the perspective from the overlook and are readied by faith to finish the journey.

Our High Mountain Places

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Yet I will rejoice in the Lord , I will joy in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:18

Rejoicing is not a response to our situations it is a step of faith. Habakkuk was witnessing the complete destruction of his people. He could have been angry and filled with hatred. But instead of bitterness he chose to trust in something he knew he might not live to see – God’s restoration. He decided that if God had given him a mountain of difficulty God would also give him the strength to climb it.

Whatever mountain we are facing we can also choose to rejoice. By faith we can claim His promise of feet like a deer to walk on our highest mountain paths.