So often in Christian circles we use the terms “on the mountain” or “in the valley” to describe our feelings of proximity to the Lord. We rejoice during “spiritual highs” and we wade persistently through the “lows.” We cry out for rain in the drought and praise Him when the floodgates of heaven do indeed open.
Personally, I’m accustomed to my walk with Jesus being ridiculously sopping wet. I hear the voice of the Lord clearly and frequently. Through His word. Through small moments. Through my community. I gladly, firstly, wholly seek to know Him and to make Him known.
This past month in Swaziland, I was on a mountaintop.
Physically, that is.
Spiritual, I felt ridiculously bone dry.
I cried out to my Sweet Jesus for…well, for Him. For fresh oil of His Spirit to be evident in me. For an alignment of my natural and my spiritual. Cause, I love the mountaintops.
One day, finally it seemed, the Lord spoke to me. He spoke clarity in a gentle and poetic way:
Mountaintops are treacherous.
They aren’t blissful valleys protected by peaks. When the winds blow, and the winds will blow, no obstructions stand to lessen its potency. And even on the mountain can you experience dryness. Sure, it receives rain first, but conversely, it takes more work to bring moisture up to the top from below when the rain isn’t falling.
Mountainous Swaziland is currently in the dry season. During the month there, the main water pump which brings water up the mountain broke. We began tapping into the reserve water sources. We still had more than enough water, but it was water that had been stored away for such a time as this and not springing fresh.
Again, through this, the Lord spoke to my heart. He reminded me that I don’t need to be sustained by a truth I get each day for only that day, and feel despondent if a daily truth seems deferred. I need to, in the dryness, tap into my reserves. I am finding the beauty of resting in the deeper truth of “Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today, and forver…” regardless of what I’m gleaning…or not…from Him at the moment.
Though they may be treacherous, I still love the mountaintops.
From my heart,
Erika Venese
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