Are you in a place of trouble, suffering, or burdensome responsibility? Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but if you're not, you probably will be soon! That's the nature of life, isn't it? When we are in a level plain and all seems to be going fairly well, watch out, there's a mountain looming ahead. Some of us have been climbing a particular mountain for a very long time!
There's lots of mountains out there of varying heights and difficulty. Mountains of grief, depression, financial woes, sickness, unemployment, heartache, loss, troubled relationships, lost loved ones, broken friendships, etc.. Some are short, stubby mountains you can climb quickly, others take years to scale.
The thing is, whether you are a believer in Jesus or not, you're going to have problems in this world. The difference for those of us who follow Jesus is found in the verse above. It boils down to this. When we climb our mountain of adversity with Jesus, He uses it to teach us, to mature us in faith, to help us grow spiritually. In other words, the problem has a purpose. In fact, without the mountains, we would never grow. We would stagnate in our faith and end up leading boring, useless lives for God.
I know many people who, when confronted with a massive mountain, simply sit down at the base and never go a step further. To this day, they are still sitting there complaining and grumbling about how God doesn't answer prayer.
So, I encourage you to start climbing your mountain, step by step. Don't focus on how big it is or how long it will take to reach the top. Just climb. So, you may say, how do I do that?
You Trust God Trust in the LORD with all your heart. And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:4 -6
Pray without ceasing Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4: 5-6
And lastly the answer is found in the 2 verses prior to the verse at the top.
Praise and Thanksgiving
Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, though the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the victorious God of my salvation Habakkuk 3:17-18
Happy Climbing!
I'm climbing. ;-) But I've also been tempted to just sit at the foot of the mountain complaining. And have sometimes. This was an encouraging post. I love the words, "I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the victorious God of my salvation." Those words will ring in my heart today.
ReplyDeleteI don't often sit and complain when I'm faced with troubles; sometimes I only have a 5-minute pity-party and that's all. But what I tend to do during troubles is I just ignore it. I hope that it will all go away in and of itself. It takes awhile sometimes for me to realize that I need to pray about it. But it's always so much easier when I take my burdens to God than when I try to deal with them myself.
ReplyDelete~Sasafras
Monday, Feb 7th,
ReplyDeleteMorning, MaryLu.
Another great word. And while I was reading your blog, something else came to my mind.
Often our Pastor has said: "Don't tell God how big your mountain is ... tell your mountain how big God is !!!" Nothing is impossible for Him. But, I do believe we have to do our part ... being faithful, being in prayer, being steadfast, to not give up hope, etc.
No one likes these mountains or problems of adversity ... likely all of us 'wish' they could just disappear. But you're absolutely right ... without these transforming issues ... we would be left to just stagnate.
I love the verse that begins with: "Be anxious for nothing, but "IN everything" by prayer and supplication "WITH" thanksgiving ....."
Thanks, MaryLu ... for all of these wonderful reminders !
Take care, and, God Bless,
In Him, Brenda Hurley
I totally agree with the ladies above, MaryLu! If it weren't for those 'mountains' in our lives, we wouldn't grow at all. It took me a long time to realize that some of those really 'hard to climb and hurtful' mountains were there to make me stronger, not weaker. God has always been there for me throughout my life, even on those days when I asked, "Lord, where are You? I need You." He was there, I just had to keep my eyes on His truth and not the world's truth. Thanks, MaryLu, for confirming what we all know to be true.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post, MaryLu!! Thanks for inspiring us all!!! I will add this one to my favorites!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments, ladies. I've been enduring quite a few mountains of my own lately, so this post was as much for me as for any of you. It's so hard to remember to stop and pray, praise and thank God when faced with an insurmountable mountain! Let's all keep climbing with Jesus, ladies. I'll race you all to the top!
ReplyDeleteI loved this post! It especially made a lot of sense to me, because this past summer, I (begrudgingly) climbed a literal mountain with my family, and when we first started out, it seemed impossible that we would make it to the top and back alive, but after having done it, it doesn't seem so hard anymore. Likewise with spiritual mountains. So while literal mountains build our muscles, spiritual mountains build our faith. And if faith can move literal mountains, it can certainly enable us to climb spiritual ones! :-)
ReplyDeleteYour posts are always a blessing, MaryLu...keep 'em coming!
So if we buy your signed books online, there's no tax involved?
ReplyDeleteVery good insight, Sapphire. Glad to hear you learned so much from your mountain.
ReplyDeleteRachel, I don't know how Signed By the Author handles taxes. They are separate from me. You'll have to ask them. Sorry