Shouting on the Mountainside

“From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” (Psalms 61:2)

Have you ever shouted really loud on a mountaintop or tall hillside?

You know in your heart; you’re not going to receive a response only feel the serenity of nature. However, have you ever called to God, cried out to Him, in your most desperate times and did not receive an answer? Only the blackness of your situation or the fogginess of spiritual uncertainty met you.

I been there.

The empty responses meet our desperate hope as we cling to the promises of old: We know God is faithful. We believe God is good all the time and all the time God is good. We read Old Testament stories and believe the one True God of Abraham is real. Still we feel dare I say it alone. However, let me tell, you a secret, Beloved God does not always meet our needs, our deepest tragedies and desires the same way each time.

Sometimes we grow overly consumed with the how. How is the Lord going to do it? How is the Lord going to help me pay my bills or get my car fixed? How will He fix my marriage? The how is not within our paygrade. No human being can survive without God waking us up each morning, so why are trying to find solutions to problems requiring a higher level of thinking mind. It will do good for Christians to remember the neverending how questions are insignificant and quick fixes compared to an Almighty God.

God is divinely creative.

Whereas Satan has a selective number of tricks he uses to manipulate and tempt us. The Lord God’s wisdom and brilliance is infinite. As each person has their own identifiable finger print, personality and spirit, God has over a million different ways of meeting our needs. God did not ordain David as King, the same way Saul was anointed. God did not create women the same way, He created man. God’s manuvering is without a script, without a contract. We are out of our range expecting God to answer us the same He did before or deliver in the same style. Our fears, often, get the best of us.

But why? We despair, shouting God’s name again and again in the wind. Does the Lord not always answer? Doubt permeates the heart and our focus wanes. Why?

There is a profound and well known quote written by an unknown author, surely you’ve heard it:

Thats it. It’s test time and this crisis was designed to test our ability to have faith in God that He will pull us through. What a lot of people do not know is during a spiritual test, sitting there is not option. Movement is required. God expects us to move in some cases, depending on the trial or difficulty. Many tests require an act of faith, an act of believing and obeying God’s commands without seeing the desire manifest.

Psalms 61:2 says, ““From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Calling out to God and not getting an answer is not the end of hope. On the contrary, it is the beginning of a higher, more intimate walk with God. When parents have babies, the minute they cry, parents respond almost immediately, hearing the holler and wailing of their child is a signal. Their offspring needs something or is in distress. Being the perfect parent, God can only tolerate infancy in His children for so long. Beyond His glory, it is consistently reinforced throughout scripture for Christians to mature and grow.

Steadily meeting the needs of a baby or toddler’s demands does not teach patience or self control. Likewise, “as my heart grows faint” our response should not be to shut down or give up when situations grow absmyal. Instead cry out, “lead me to the rock that is higher than I,” lead us God to the next stop on this journey, where You want me to be. Take me higher than where I was before. In spite of what obstacles hit during the test God’s goal is to change us, so we become mature.

Christians give up too easily, nowadays. Trials build endurance. The willingness to stay in the game, to give the test our absolute best. It is in these silent moments where some of our greatest spiritual growth spurts take place. God watches intently as many Christians take strides in their faith walk to move in the direction they know God wants them to be.  Coupled with the enormous amounts of input Christians receive daily. Sermons, audio tapes, Gospel music, godly advice, yet few take the intitative to practice and live out what is living inside them. God orchestrates these difficulties; He encourages growth. He does not want believers to remain babies, but full grown, mature believers are what He envisions.

Walking this Christian journey, guaranteed, there will be silent moments, take care to believe God did not or ever will forsake thee.

An empty response is not always a joyous but it is an answer. God never not never answers His children. What He does is silently lead us to the place where He wants us to be.

Copyright © 2018 by A Meeting at the Well