THERE’S ANOTHER MOUNTAIN

IN MY PATH, BUT I WILL CARRY ON

It seems as if we continually face “mountains” in our pathway.  Do we climb those “mountains” or do we try to find a path around them?  Sometimes those “mountains” are just small hills that we can easily go around in a short time.  Sometimes I think: “Not another “mountain” or “not another obstacle in my pathway, Oh Lord?”  As we walk with the Lord, we continually face “mountains” or “valleys” or “storms” in our pathway.  But isn’t it wonderful to know that our Wonderful Lord is leading and guiding us all the way, even though the pathway sometimes seems just too rough to go on. We want to just give up our hope.

How large is your “mountain” today?  Is your “mountain” one of pain and physical suffering?  Maybe you wonder how long you can endure this pain, and sometimes the treatment involved also brings much suffering.  Maybe it is a great financial burden.  In this economy, many are facing great financial loss.  I meet people today who have great and complex problems and don’t know where to turn.  Many just give up their hope.  I think of the tornado victims and their great losses.  Many have lost everything including dear loved ones.  And they are facing great “mountains” of grief.

Then I am reminded that I can go on regardless of pain and the circumstances around me, even age related distresses.  I am reminded of a wonderful hymn that speaks of our hope as believers when we feel that we cannot take another step:  “until then my heart will go on singing.”  And my heart will begin to rejoice and look ahead to the joy that is before me.

UNTIL THEN

“My heart can sing when I pause to remember, a heartache here is but a stepping stone along a trail that’s winding always upwards, this troubled world is not my final home.

But until then my heart will go on singing, until then with joy I’ll carry on, until the day my eyes behold the city, until the day God calls me home.

The things of earth will dim and lose their value if we recall they’re borrowed for awhile; and things of earth that cause the heart to tremble remembered there will only bring a smile

This weary world with all its toil and struggle may take its toll of misery and strife; the soul of man is like a waiting falcon, when it’s released it’s destined for the skies.”   (Stuart Hamblen)

As the song says, “we can go on singing.”  Can you continue to sing and praise the Lord in the midst of great trials?  Sometimes in the midst of a trial or just when I need to be reminded that He is near, He will drop a song in my heart.  Sometimes it is a song or hymn that I haven’t heard for a long time, and I go to find a songbook to look up that song.  Many times I awaken in the morning with a song in my heart, and to me that is always amazing!  The Psalmist in the Psalms talked about our “songs in the night.” “The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me – a prayer to the God of my life.”  Psalms 42:8

We are reminded to sing and praise our God as we face these “mountains.”  The Apostle Paul was in prison when he wrote “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice” Philippians 4:4.  But sometimes it is hard to rejoice and have joy in the Lord when our body is wracked with pain.

But we look forward to a day when we look back and realize these things we went through here, things that caused our hearts to literally tremble, will be gone forever.  “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” Revelation 21:4.

So what are we to do?  Shall we just give up and live like others who have no hope?  No, my friend, with joy we will carry on!  We will continue to work “till Jesus comes.”  Yes we will encounter mountains, big and small, storms and days when everything seems dark.  Titus 2:13 assures of our Blessed Hope and we will carry on with joy.  David and sang about that joy in the midst of running from King Saul, and the many trials he went through.  Even our Lord Jesus endured the cross, as He looked forward with joy to the day when He would sit down at the right hand of His Father, having brought us salvation, Hebrews 12:2.  The Apostle suffered much, but continued to remind us to rejoice and be in joy, I Thessalonians 2:19.

So we will carry on with hope, with a song in our hearts, and much joy in spite of the “mountains” and the storms blowing around us.  We will carry on until we meet Him in the air or until we are called home.  And we will carry on until our eyes behold that city where we will dwell with Him forever.

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.  Also there was no more sea.  Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall no more death, no sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” Revelation 21:1-4

What a day that will be,

Blessings,

Pastor Sharon