We may find ourselves on a mountaintop experience like a mission trip or a new dating relationship or a windfall of finances. But the thrill of these is largely in their newness. And as the newness fades, the terrain levels.
The terrain of life shifts, transforming a once arid area into a wet one, a once thrilling space into a bore. A location or event or relationship that is a mountaintop one day will eventually become a plain and someday perhaps even a valley.
If we put our trust in the circumstances of mountains, we will be hugely disappointed and confused when the ground seems to shift beneath our feet. Circumstances are temporary. When we adopt a false perspective, we set ourselves up for a deep and dramatic fall.
Reality is the tether on which we ought to hold. Truth transcends circumstance. It is immune to the shifts and swerves of situation. The key is to acknowledge the terrain for what it is: an invitation. It isn’t the answer; the terrain is simply the context in which the question is asked. The only way to avoid the hope dropping out of the bottom of us is to trust in what is trustworthy – the Lord our God – as he invited us into a perspective that transcends circumstance and season.
“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”
– Psalm 20:7