Hang on! Just like a rock-climber, they are focused and determined. They look up as they steady each hand hold and foot grip. They don't spend their time looking down, allowing fear to shake them loose. They hold on to that Rock with everything in them. Strength, courage, and endurance, all of these are needed for the climb.
A climber is either ascending or descending the rock's edge before them. They make it look easy don't they? But those who make it look easy are the most trained and well prepared, right? They have faced the obstacles before them with courage and determination. This is a portrait of one who is an overcomer, ready and willing to face each challenge with hope. They are not always able to see the next position, but in faith they reach ahead. They are perceptive to everything around them. There are times their reach is stretched, maybe their foot is left hanging as they grab tight, but with each move they trust in the fact that they have trained well and are fully prepared to make it to the top.
"You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." 1 John 4:4
For the climber it isn't so much getting to the top, but the journey there. It's those mountains that have come before that have readied them for the next. With each time they suit up they know what is needed. They know what can happen, but they are determined to experience the climb.
"We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed." 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We read these verses, but do we really ever take them apart and really see them for what they are to the believer?
Are we hard-pressed? You bet we are. Life is so difficult. But, although we are hard-pressed we are not crushed by the weight!
Feeling perplexed about the circumstances surrounding you? Friend, although we may not fully understand, we are not in despair.
How about being persecuted? When those times come and they will, we can trust in the fact that we are not forsaken!
How often are we struck down by the hardships and trials in life? Each of us have faced our own. Although we have been hit hard we are not destroyed!
He is always eager to give a hand, to spot us, to be our safety cord. We are to look to Jesus for our everything! As each moment changes, as each reach and foot hold come into position, He is always with us. We just take great measure in trusting the One in control. We must take our focus off the circumstance and place it upon the One in control. Our God is cheering us on to take the challenge of the climb, to experience all of life, and to succeed in our climb.
With Jesus we will persevere! With training comes endurance. We prepare, not knowing what's ahead of us, but trusting that our Lord is already there waiting. How do we prepare when we don't know the obstacles ahead? We dive in God's Word, seeking Him in every way. As we do He will unveil His Word to us. We pray, sharing our biggest fears with our Jesus. We give Him our questions and concerns. We lay it all at the foot of the cross, keeping nothing that will weigh us down. Let us trust in our Savior. He isn't at the top waiting on us to arrive. He is in every move, guiding us, and emboldening us to not only hang on, but to have the faith to take the next hold with just as much hope and trust as we did in the very first.
"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2
