How much farther?
Will this even be worth it?
But He’s never disappointed before.
I can make it.
Oh boy, this is difficult.
Why is He bringing us all the way up here?
“One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them…” (Matt. 5:1-2)
Table Mountain. One of the seven natural wonders of the world, and it resides in Cape Town, South Africa, coincidentally where my team and I have found ourselves for the last three months of our World Race. It’s a rite of passage to hike up at least once while living here, so that’s what we did.
Starting off, it didn’t seem to be that incredibly difficult. It was steep, yes, but manageable. As the time went on, though, the sun declared its presence, the wind pushed and shoved from all sides and breathing got shallower and shallower the higher and higher up we got.
How much farther?
Will this even be worth it?
Then we would take a short break to enjoy the scenery. The sun’s rays cascaded over the town below us as its residence rolled out of bed, the wind that felt like a curse beforehand swept over our skin and cooled our overheated bodies, and my lungs filled with the sweet scent of my surroundings.
Keep going.
At one point in the journey, the top of the mountain seemed impossible to get to, but each step brought us closer. Finally my chaco-covered feet hit flat ground for the first time in nearly two hours and my heart was elated. The mountain top seemed to stretch on forever and ever, proclaiming it’s might and expansiveness.
We did it. We made it to the top. The clouds were laying beside and below us. Not even 8AM and I had conquered the literal mountain I had seen every day towering over the city.
And let me tell you what, it was worth every step, every fall, every breath.
There’s something spiritual as well as physical that occurs when we take the trek up the mountains, whether they be literal or metaphorical ones we encounter in life. We get hit by an obstacle, we begin the journey that often starts off seeming to not be extremely difficult, but the deeper we get into it, we realize how tiring and frustrating life can be when we’re pushed into the uncomfortable. We ask the Lord where He is, if He even cares, or if pursuing Him and where He’s leading us is even worth it.
In Scripture, Jesus time and time finds solace on the side of a hill or mountain. It’s where He goes to commune with the Father, coming down feeling refreshed and quickly performs some sort of miracle in nearly all cases. After crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites sang a song of deliverance to the Lord, where they proclaimed about those the Lord purchased, “You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain—the place, O Lord, reserved for your own dwelling”. Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the Law from the Lord, which would later be fulfilled by Jesus, which He declared while giving the Sermon on the Mount.
Our Father. He walks before us. He is with us. He fights our battles, joins in our joy and suffering, He lives within us…but there’s something about the mountaintop.
It’s where our Lord dwells.
Standing on top of Table Mountain, I could see why.
When I reached the top, I got a new perspective. This mountain that seemed so monumental before had been conquered. My exhaustion led to a refreshed spirit and an understanding that even while I was hiking up this HUGE rock, the Lord was with me and pushing me along because He knew what was awaiting me. He had good things planned for me that I had to get to the top to see.
And isn’t that how it always is?
We make the trek to the top and while staring at all we’ve walked through, all we’ve endured, we realize the Lord was with us the whole time, spurring us forward because though we may not have been able to see it, good things were awaiting us on the other side.
First, though, we have to be willing to follow Him on the hike, figuring out along the way how worth it it really is to find Him in the place where He dwells.
