Climbing to the Peak
While the
Christian life is sometimes described as a series of peaks and valleys, ups and
downs, highs and lows, that is not the central focus of our message. Instead we
want to look at all of life itself as a disciplined climb to the peak where in
fact we will have the opportunity to have the best view of what God wants us to
see and we also will be in the position to give the maximum glory to God!
This in
brief describes the life of Moses. It also describes the life of every servant
of God who is surrendered to the will of God thereby allowing Him to mold and
shape the events of our life into a harmonious whole which in fact will give
Him the most glory.
Lets look
at the life of Moses for just a moment and put it into three stages. First of
all the first 40 years were culminated by the incident where he killed an
Egyptian and subsequently fled the scene to the land of Midian. Moses, here,
was somewhat ahead of his time as the liberating leader of his people and needed
further maturity.
Secondly,
the next forty years, spent in the backside of the desert, were climaxed by the
burning bush incident, and now at the age of eighty he was ready in the eyes of
God to serve Him and free the people of Israel. The last forty years which were
his ministry years fill the pages of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy
and next to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Moses becomes the most prominent
servant of God in the Scriptures!
However,
had he been successful in the first stage of his life while living in Egypt,
the rest of the story may not have occurred. His success came with God’s
timing, for his climb to the peak was punctuated by failures, but he did reach
the peak, he climbed to the very top of his usefulness for God because he was
able to deal with multiple ‘setbacks’, in the eyes of men, but these events in
reality were magnificent successes in the eyes of God.
Yes,
these most necessary events were used to direct this powerful servant of God,
and kept him on the path, climbing to the peak, making progress in each of
these steps in his trek to the top, toward the final day when God Himself would
not only give him a supernatural view of the entire promised land, but He would
attend to Him personally, burying his body on Mt.Nebo! Two thirds of his life,
we might say, was in preparation, and only one third was spent in ministry.
And, because of the intense difficulty he would face in his ministry years, his
training was lengthy.
However,
when we look at the Lord Jesus Christ’s life, He spent almost ninety percent of
His life in preparation due to the great pressure and intense suffering He had
to go through in only three and one-half years. Yes, He was God in the flesh,
but He ‘Learned obedience by the things
which He suffered’(Hebrews 5:8), He too went through a similar ‘maturing process’ only
with Him there were no mistakes, no errors, no sin at all, yet He progressed up
to the peak, the maximum glory to His Father, through His suffering and death
on the Cross, He suffered like no other man could for He was sinlessly pure,
and holy, the perfect Lamb of God! Elijah and John the Baptist also spent the
great majority of their lives in preparation.
Therefore, in application to our lives, we
too are on a climb to the peak if we are submissive to the will of God
as found in His precious Word! We too, have the opportunity to give the maximum
glory to Him if we fully surrender to His will! According to the gift of
faith each of us has the ability through the working of the Holy Spirit to
exercise our faith. It is to the degree that we are faithful in fulfilling the
will of God for our lives that we will be rewarded, according to the measure of
faith that is given us.
And so,
it is not the great outward displays of works seen only by men, no it is the
inward heart matters of faithfulness that God evaluates and will finally judge
and reward at that great day. So, each of us has the ability to climb to the
peak where we will give the maximum glory to God according to the measure of
faith which is given to us!
Now let’s
take a look within. Are we still on the road of preparation? Have there been
‘setbacks’ during the climb to the peak? Remember, these ‘setbacks’ are only
seen as such in the eyes of us mortal men…not the Lord! He tells us
firmly in Romans 8:28 ‘That all things
work together for good’ and the key here is ‘To them that love God’ even through the times when we think that
we will never make it to the top…we must continue to love and trust Him Who
sees the beginning from the end and knows exactly how to mold these events in
order to cause them to boost us on the road to the top, the climb to the peak
of maximum glory to God, for there can and should be a burning bush and Mt.
Nebo experience for each of us, when we will be able to experience His
supernatural call and glorious view, if we fully surrender to His loving
will!
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