Hitting the Wall

God’s love for us is so large…

His grace for us seems inconceivable…

The blessings He has planned for us are incredible!

Until that wonderful day when I surrendered my heart to Jesus, I was unfazed by the vocabulary of evangelical Christians. Simple terms, like ‘grace’ or ‘blessing’, had no greater meaning for me than their dictionary definitions. Certainly, the term ‘mountaintop experience’ was an empty expression I was quick to scoff at or ridicule. How ironic that the moment I accepted Christ as my Savior, God would bless me with one of those mountaintop experiences.

Try to contemplate being lifted so high as to see beyond your imagination! Imagine standing at the pinnacle and seeing the world connected in ways you can barely comprehend. Imagine being at such a height that there were no limits or boundaries. Imagine being at such a dizzying height, but secure, and at peace, and in God’s presence. Until it happened to me, I could not have imagined anything close to that experience.

And yet, it seems that many Christians who are raised up in the faith have not received such an experience. Perhaps it is only those of us who, like Doubting Thomas, require some special intervention. I imagine myself as having been to the mountaintop, but I did not get to stay there. In the here-and-now, I’m right back with all believers: delivered out of bondage by Christ, and now moving ever toward a deeper relationship with God. Though I may be off the mountaintop, I can clearly see the incomprehensible mountain of God’s love, blessings, and grace.

Now, go with this picture of a mountain of grace, and love, and blessings for a moment. It’s easy to move forward toward a more meaningful relationship with God, as long as we keep the mountain in sight.

Satan, however, doesn’t want us to be moving toward God. So, he throws up barriers in front of us to try and stop us or turn us away from God. We may be moving toward God in one moment, and suddenly… BAM… we hit a wall! “Ouch… that hurt!” That’s our natural reaction. Now, since we are right up against it, we cannot see anything but the wall. All we see are the impenetrable stones that have stopped us. We can’t see God’s mountain of grace anymore because there’s a wall in the way; it’s not a very high wall, but it blocks our view. After a while, if we just focus on the wall, Satan will convince us that we are supposed to go no further. Once we give in to that, we might then be convinced that we should even go back to where we first started… it’s an easy and wide path back to where we were.

We all hit walls. Satan is pretty equal opportunity when it comes to stopping us from moving toward God. What walls have you hit? Are you up against a wall right now? One of the most formidable walls that Satan erects is one that just seems temporary. Then Satan comes along and tries to convince you that you are not worthy, since you have lost sight of God.

This is exactly why we need fellowship; why we need to travel through life together as believers in Christ. When a wall of despair is thrown up in front of me, my brothers and sisters in Christ help me over. When I crash into a wall of hopelessness, they lead me around. And when I’m inches away from a wall of sin, they support me with their prayers, they strengthen me with their encouragement, and they carry me right through the barrier as if it wasn’t even there… on their faith. In fellowship, in love, and in Christ, we can all reach the mountaintop… together.

I’ll see you during the climb this week.

Your brother in Christ,

Dave Hoag