Further Up, or Down Through a Ravine?

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD
As the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9)

We like to know that our path to God's Heaven is one of further up all the time, or at least we would like to know that if the Lord did not seem to be taking us down through yet another ravine of tribulation on what we hope is the way to the top of the mountain. Experience tells us it's true, the path to the the Lord's holy mountain is not quite as smooth and gentle as we might like. There are those times when we kneel down in prayer to beg for an elevator to the top, but our Lord only beckons us onward along His pathway.

We have some amount of weariness and fear over what may be at the bottom of that next ravine of tribulation, but down and down and through each one, through our doubts and our fears, through our weariness and impatience, the Lord leads us on. In time, the path begins to mount up once more. Though some of the steps may resemble small cliffs and even the occasional precipice, always the Lord is there with just the right amount of help or climbing gear to get us to that next level; and there will be seasons of rest in this climb up or down. I know, sometimes it seems that falling down into a ravine of tribulation took only moments while the climb out is arduous and takes weeks, months and years. If we had our Lord's true vision, I'm thinking that we would be able to see that it is that way because we did not fall down nearly so far as He led us up, and that we are so very close to the top of His mountain.

Let us climb onward with our Lord!
Bucky