What Christian doesn’t love “mountain top” experiences? Those experiences with the Lord when we are filled with His Spirit to overflowing and His very presence is palpable. Those times when He reveals something astonishing to us or does a mighty work in our midst that no one can explain except by the hand of God. Who wouldn’t want to stay there?

I love the mountains. They speak to me in a way I cannot explain. I hope to live in the mountains one day if the Lord wills. Something about the mountains causes my spirit to sing and rejoice, unlike any other place. I feel “at home” there. I even, for whatever reason, feel closer to the Lord in the mountains, even though I know He is omnipresent.

I am awestruck when I stand on top of a mountain and look out over the mountain range that goes on for miles, and I take in the grandeur and natural beauty and “majesty,” if you will, of God’s handiwork. It speaks to my aesthetic affinities. It bypasses my brain and whispers to my spirit that this is just a glimpse of how small I am and how majestic and mighty my Heavenly Father is!

When we go to the mountains, I always want to stay there! But, as life and God would have it right now, we can’t stay, because we must descend and go back to the valley where we live.

It is the same in our spiritual lives. We all love, want and even sometimes seek after those “mountain top” experiences with the Lord. And who can blame us?

But … as Oswald Chambers says, in his, “My Utmost for His Highest” devotional, “We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and the aesthetic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration, that is all.” He says that we are “built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff” of life and that “spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mount.”

Chambers goes on to say, “The height of the mountain top is measured by the drab drudgery of the valley; but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God.”

In those rare but glorious moments on the mount with the Lord, soak them up, my friend. Breathe in the fresh mountain air. Let the Lord fill you and minister to you. Never forget those moments. Ponder them often. He gives them to us for a reason. But … take what He graciously gives you on the mountain top to the valley and share it with others.

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!'”(Isaiah 52:7)

When Jesus fills us with fresh living water on the mount, we are to carry that water down the mount into the valley to be a refreshment for all those who live there.

“The test of our spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong.” – Oswald Chambers

 

Lisa Hannan lives in Valdosta with her husband, attorney Miles Hannan, who has been practicing law in Valdosta for more than 30 years. She has a B.S. in psychology from Valdosta State University. You can find her at www.lisahannan.org.