Rise Higher

For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God?
It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the [mountain] heights. (Psalm 18:31-33 NIV)

I had the privilege of finally visiting my favourite town in Western Canada. The rocky mountain peaks, turquoise glacial lakes, wildlife, and a picture-perfect mountain town make it the ideal place to rest, reset, and enjoy God’s beautiful masterpiece. However, talking to the locals there, I discovered that the mountains are more than just a view but a challenge that they willingly embrace. Almost every person I encountered said that they had either climbed a mountain or hiked to it, and the ambitious among them even aspire to hike or climb almost every one of those Rocky Mountains. Wow!

There’s frequent mention of mountains in the Bible. After all, its people were surrounded by them. Symbolic of the divine presence (God often spoke to His people from the mountains), the Bible also depicts mountains as obstacles and challenges in the Christian’s life. Since that is the case, I wonder how many of us go about our lives unbothered by the mountains that surround us daily, and are willing to embrace them as opportunities to rise higher and grow stronger in our walk with God.

David certainly did. In today’s psalm, he praises God for allowing him to rise above the personal challenges he was facing. What could have been a bitter recount of his life’s trials ended up being a testimony of how God used them to make him stronger. He later writes, “He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the [mountain] heights.”

How you see the mountains in your life determines how you will respond to them. Through faith and dependence on God, you can overcome life’s challenges, as David did. In fact, Jesus promises that “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20). You are more than a conqueror through Christ, and no mountain is too high for you to climb. So rise higher!