High Place Reversal

What do you think of when you think of your spiritual high places?  Do times of great revelation, awesome worship, or being filled with peace and joy come to mind?  Do you consider these your mountain peaks, or your valleys?  I have always considered these special moments to be "mountain top" experiences.  We think of Peter, John and James being with Jesus atop the mount of transfiguration, seeing Jesus transformed and speaking with Moses and Elijah.  So we refer to those ethereal moments with the Lord as our high points.

I'd like to refer to another verse though.  As I was reading "Jesus Calling" the other morning, Sarah referenced Habakkuk 3:17-19 in that day's devotional.  And that verse really turned upside down what I thought of as the "high places."

Habakkuk 3:17-19   Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord!   I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!  The Sovereign Lord is my strength!  He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.

So, what this verse is inferring is that my high places are actually my troubles?  The hard times that hurt, the struggles that wear me out, the battles that seem to come one right after the other?  That's crazy, right?  The times when I feel  God has forgotten me, left me alone in a landslide of trouble is not the valley but the mountain top?

It seems Habakkuk was telling us that if we stay close to God in these times (whether we feel Him or not) then He will make us to walk surefooted over our troubles.  They will become our stepping stones to spiritual growth and God's blessings.  Imagine, the hardest tests, the highest mountains of problems, being made a stepping stone on our pathway to eternity.  What a amazing, and different way to look at our journey with the Lord.

It makes sense though.  The valleys are sheltered, quiet places.  But the mountains....the climb is uphill, the terrain rocky and strenuous, sometimes hidden  by the trees.  The top buffeted by winds and harsh weather.  And so our lives parallel this natural landscape.  Our sweet times of peace and intimacy with the Lord, sheltered and safe.  But the hardships, days seeming like an uphill battle, only to get to the top, to be exposed to the harshest winds of difficulty, sorrows raining down.  But it is here, where we stick closest to our Lord and He transforms our heartache into our hallelujah.

I love when the Lord turns around my thinking like this.  It's just so cool!!  I don't know how long it will take this to really sink in for me.  And then to walk it out....but God is patient in working with us, so  I will trust Him.

If you are in these hard places now, I pray the Lord will help you to hold onto Him as He turns your high places into your greatest victories.

Lord, help us to see things as You do.  And help us to stay close to You, in the high places, the hard places, the valleys  of peace, in each and every second of our existence.  We may not see now, but we will see when You complete the work in us and through us.  Increase our faith.  Give us strength to hold on.  Thank You  for the hard times, they bring us closer to You.

I think of a poem I've loved for years from Florence White Willet:

I thank You for the bitter things

They've been a friend to grace,

They've driven me from the paths of ease

To storm the secret place.