March 2 I Saturday

Numbers 23-25

Mark 7:14-37

“And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”   —Hebrews 13:16

What are the things that move us to tears? A beautiful piece of music, a heart-wrenching movie, a hungry child, a story of triumph or one of despair? There are countless things that move us to tears, and to those whose hearts are filled with the Holy Spirit, they see the face of God in almost everything that brings a tear to their eye.

The Christian life is relating everything to God. In the hard things, we turn to God for His strength, or we see His work that has yet to be accomplished and our hearts cry out to do it. In the things where we feel the deeply soulful artistry of God, our praise of Him cannot always be uttered in words as nothing we say will aspire to the wondrous, all-consuming presence of God that overtakes us.
When He places us on that mountain peak for however brief a time, we are given a glimpse of heaven that
we must take back down into the valley. Oswald Chambers writes this:

“We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain.

    “If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley...

    “We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life—those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and our strength...

    “Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time.”

God does not intend for us to stay on the mountain, revelling in His presence. We are meant to go back down into the valley to feed the hungry child, help the despaired, and accomplish what God causes our hearts to cry out to do.

Prayer: Lord God, as wonderful as it is to experience being with You in moments of exaltation, grant me a heart that wants to go into the valley and work with You. Thank You, Lord.