AFRAID OF HEIGHTS

 

And He(God) said unto Moses,
Come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron,
Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of
the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.
And Moses alone shall come near the Lord:
but they shall not come nigh; neither shall
the people go up with him.
Exodus 24:1,2

Moses had a personal invitation to meet with God who was to be the host of that meeting. God, bottom line, told Moses to come up the mountain to meet with Him. There were some men invited to accompany Moses, but they could go only so far. Moses was told to come the latter part of the way by himself, leaving the group at a predetermined place. Mt Sinai (Horeb) was a much higher mountain than any of our taller mountains here in the national park. Mt. Sinai is measured at 7,497 feet. Think of climbing that hunk of rock, and Moses wasn't a spring chicken either.

It may sound odd to people to know that someone would move to the mountains who has always been fearful of heights. Well, that someone is me. My first exposure to mountains was when I was around 5-6 years old. Living in Southern Illinois, and close to Tennessee, it was no problem for my Mother to decide to go check out the new Smoky Mountain National Park. The main road through the park was nothing more than gravel at that time. A part near Newfound Gap had been paved for the convenience of President Roosevelt's going to the park to make a speech of dedication. My Mother had never driven on mountain roads with only gravel. There were no guardrails or yellow stripe on the gravel (duh). If a driver hit their brakes to make a sudden stop, she could slide to no telling where. My grandmother sucked wind around every curve. Her fear only heightened my own as I looked down those steep mountain slopes through my back seat car window.

Despite the fear, I found myself loving the mountains. Eventually the roads were paved with guardrails placed in the more dangerous locations along the two lane road. I must say that even today when we drive across those same mountains, I still tend to scoot my body away from the car door as much as I can as if that would make any difference if falling down a mountain side. Today, when Brian and I hike, I never walk near the slope edge of the trail...I stick to the inside of the trail. If I get too close to the edge, I, like my grandmother of years ago, begin to suck air as if I'm facing a very bad fall.

Spiritually speaking, there are many Bible verses that have to do with heights. Scripture is full of mountains from which we can glean spiritual truths. Just as I may not appreciate the height of our mountains as I should, there are times we can be fearful of climbing to some heights spiritually. However, Scripture encourages you and me to always be moving upward for Christ.

In Matthew 5:1, after a lengthy time of ministry, Jesus went up into a mountain. His disciples followed Him there where He taught them. We refer to this teaching as the Sermon on the Mount. I think of it as being their seminary training...Ministry 101, so to speak. I can't tell you the times I've driven into the mountains with my Bible where the Holy Spirit has taught me and spurred me on to greater spiritual growth.

Paul made good use of the word “heights”. He first spoke of reaching the heights of love in Romans 8:37-39. I have a deep love for Romans chapter 8. This whole chapter is so rich in the things of God including a growth process that is encouraged. For instance, just in verse 39, I see when it comes to God's love, nothing can part me from it. Paul says: “Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us form the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So why don't we climb and stretch? I think some of that has to do with fear, fear of the unknown, of falling or even of failure. We read about Moses' trek up that mountain where he was going to meet with God. As we casually read of that incident, do we ever consider how
Moses felt. I hesitate to use the word “fear” but how would you and I feel...a personal meeting with God. He had some friends with hin for awhile, but he could go only so far with them. We can read in our Bibles about the whole thing and see that it all turned out for good, but Moses had no clue what was about to happen. He walked that steep, mountain trail by faith alone.

If we are going to climb spiritual heights for God, there are some things to remember, such as:

* Our quest must be for God and Him alone and not for showing off for others. With Him in our sights, we will reap benefits, but it can't be of our own doing.

* Remember that it is going to take some determination and effort on our part. We may not have to climb a literal mountain like Moses did, but we all have our mountains that are challenges for us perhaps on a daily basis.

* We can go only so far with others while the rest of the trek must be alone and in God's strength. God doesn't invite us to come if He isn't going to make it possible in His strength to get where He is.

* As we learn and grow, a goal of ours should always be to take the high ground. Hurt feelings, arguing, challenging others, going on the offensive for things that don't really matter...all of those things can mean trouble, and will be things that pull us backward, away from the heights.

* We need not fear the spiritual heights...Jesus is there biding us to “come higher”. He awaits our arrival.

Father, I want to go higher with You. Thank You that Jesus anticipates my arrival and will walk the rest of the way of my journey with me. Help me to not fear the heights, but to embrace them. I'm stretching upward in Your strength. In Jesus' precious name....Amen