If you’ve ever been to a mountaintop, then you are familiar with the feeling of dizziness. Like if you take one step forward you will fall endlessly and helplessly. If you’ve ever been to a mountaintop, then you are familiar with the idea of feeling miniscule. Like you thought you grasped the concept of our large world, but then you realize it’s more incredible than you believed it to be. If you’ve ever been to a mountaintop, then you are familiar with the sensation of inexplicable awe.
You’ve never seen something so beautiful and peaceful. Suddenly your problems don’t seem like problems anymore.
This past summer I worked every day in a place surrounded by mountains. They took my breath away from ground level and, when I climbed them, they whisked away any anxious thought I’d ever have. On one particular hike, the sun was setting, the warm air brushed against me, and the silence engulfed me. In that silence, as I sat on the mountaintop looking at the miles and miles of land stretching out before me, I had what some might call a “mountaintop experience.”
Yes, I was on a literal mountaintop, but I am talking about a biblical mountaintop experience. Pastor James McDonald describes the biblical mountaintop experience as one that involves your mind, emotions, and will. You learn something new about who God is. You feel overcome by a greater awareness of God’s reality. You come down from the mountaintop ready for a changed life. On that mountaintop I realized that all the problems and worries that suffocate me daily were so worldly. I suddenly gained a perspective about life I had never had up until that moment. On the days when I find myself worrying about temporary issues I need to take a step back and look at life as if I was looking at the world from a mountaintop. Everything is tiny and nothing seems to matter when you are that far away from people. That is how we need to look at our daily issues.
The stress I feel towards a particular class is so small compared to what really matters in life. Worrying about finances doesn’t measure up to what really matters in life. And what does really matter in life? Jesus Christ, furthering His kingdom, and bringing glory to God through it all. Now this isn’t to say drop everything you are doing in life because it doesn’t matter. It means when you worry, stress, or get angry, think about your struggles from a different perspective. Just zoom out and think about your problems in the large scheme of things. Is what you’re worried about really worth the worry? Because whatever happens, God has it all in control. He has it all in control.
The realization that I could release control was like lifting bricks off my shoulders. I thought about all the ways God had provided up until that day and I felt like a fool. He has performed miracle after miracle and, in that mountaintop experience, my blinded eyes were healed. I walked down that mountain with a fresh, new fear for the Lord and new readiness to serve Him and only Him.
