…Jesus took…them up on a high mountain apart by themselves… —Mark 9:2
We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain. If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley (see Mark 9:14-18). We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time.
We are inclined to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching. In actual fact, it is to be turned into something even better than teaching, namely, character. The mountaintop is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a terrible trap in always asking, “What’s the use of this experience?” We can never measure spiritual matters in that way. The moments on the mountaintop are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.
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Journal DJR
Good morning Lord, I’m reminded that JD and I went to the mountain, seeking a mountaintop experience 5 years ago. We’d had them before and were feeling kind of dry and thought that by going to the mountain … we could re-create a mountaintop experience. We set aside the time, spent some money and by most any measurement, we were committed. At least as committed as your team when you took them …Jesus took…them up on a high mountain apart by themselves… —Mark 9:2.
We didn’t get what we were looking for. But I guess we got what you were looking for. We didn’t get emotional highs, like we’ve experienced at mountain retreats before. But we started doing this CO2 together and have been meeting together, us and you, for 5 years now. We’ve learned a lot, but more importantly we’ve changed a lot. Strangely also, we are not getting tired or bored. You know we’ve told you we’re ready to change to a different format … but it seems that you like this one. So we’ll keep on. I think it’s fair to say that when we went to the mountain, following this verse, we didn’t get what we were looking for but we got what we needed and in the longer view, we did get what we were looking for… it just took some years and some surrender to grasp it and realize it.
I’m reminded of Bono’s U2 song, “still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” I hope he’s found what he needs… and maybe what he’s looking for…
I know for sure that I don’t know for sure what I’m looking for. My history is that when I get to where I thought I wanted to go, it’s not what I thought. There’s always a higher mountain perhaps. But when I come back to staying connected with you, staying curious and waiting for nudges from your Spirit, and just simply living out of that… Then I can face high mountains and demon possessed valleys and all the stuff in between. Thank you for that. For loving me and promising to never leave or forsake me… even when circumstances don’t look so good or lack mountaintop excitement.
