Scale that Mountain

In the Summer of 2020, Bryan and I retreated to Gatlinburg. We hiked a few trails while we were there and my favorite was called Ramsey’s Cascade.

It’s an eight mile hike from start to finish with an elevation of 2,091 feet from the start of the trail to the top. This was, by far, the most difficult hike I’d ever traversed. There were a few times we had to stop to catch our breath before attempting the next challenging climb. We traipsed through rushing water, climbed slippery stones, and used roots as footholds to navigate the strenuous inclines.

I think you get the picture. It was a very difficult climb up that mountain. Having this experience has helped me relate to a piece of scripture I recently grappled with. You know how sometimes, you come across a verse or phrase that you’ve heard over and over, but then one day, you actually take the time to really think about what it means? This happened to me as I was reading Psalm 18.

In Psalm 18:33, David wrote,

“He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he causes me to stand on the heights.”

Now, before we go any further here, I need to tell you that animals are not my forte. As a matter of fact, I cringe around most critters. You would not want to be my partner in any type of animal trivia game. We would lose! I tell you this so you can better understand why this verse puzzled me. What does that mean, David? You want small feet? Hooved feet? Loud feet? Four feet? I did not get it.

I went through my normal digging patterns for when I don’t understand scripture. The commentary at the bottom of the page in my Bible didn’t provide any insight, so I looked for a cross-reference- you know, those tiny letters, numbers and references in the middle part of the page that we usually overlook? I found a cross-reference to Habakkuk 3:19:

“The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”

Okay!!! So the feet of a deer somehow help him tread inclines? We’re getting somewhere with this cross-reference strategy! But I still needed more information. This became like a black hole to me that I kept digging and digging into. Stick with me… this gets good! Sooo good!

Next, I went to reliable ole’ Google and looked for commentaries from people who have studied this. The first Google hit took me to www.gotanswers.org. It explained that these references to the feet of a deer are referring to a “sure-footed animal that can climb sheer rocky cliffs and never stumble or fall. In climbing, the deer can place her back feet exactly where her front feet were, thus needing only two sturdy footrests instead of four. She can scamper across what appears to be a vertical cliff, unafraid and undeterred by seemingly impassable terrain.”

What this is telling us is that both David and Habakkuk were saying that in the midst of trails, God made them able to scale to new heights of safety and provision. David had recently been rescued (by the hand of the Lord) from King Saul’s murderous bounty hunters the first time he penned these words in 2 Samuel 22:34. Habakkuk had been wrestling with the sorrow defeat of his nation's corrupt, sinful nature. Both had just come through climbing a metaphoric, treacherous mountain.

What’s your mountain right now? Are you in the middle of climbing that mountain, or are you enjoying the view from the top? Some of you might feel like you’re in the middle of the climb and you're stuck. The holidays are hard- especially if you’ve lost a loved one, have been sick, spent your last dime on Christmas, struggle with anxiety or depression, are having relationship struggles, or can’t button your pants for all the festive food you enjoyed. You may even feel like you’ve been climbing a mountain for years. We’ve got mountains, don’t we? (Sounds like a great t-shirt slogan: Got Mountains? #feetofadeer)

There’s good news, Friends! The same God who gave David and Habakkuk “feet of a deer” is the same God who loves you and offers you the same. I started thinking about how many people in The Bible God called to take on a mountain. I thought of Abraham taking his beloved and long-awaited son Isaac up the mountain to be sacrificed. Then there’s Moses who was called numerous times to traipse up a mountain. The Got Questions website states that Moses was called eight times to climb Mt. Sinai where he eventually received the 10 commandments from the Lord. Elijah answered God’s call and experienced miracle after miracle at the top of Mount Carmel in a time when he felt like everyone was against him.

The most recent revelation about biblical mountain climbing came from a church friend’s FaceBook post. Jill Pendergraft wrote, “When it says that Joseph and Mary traveled from Nazareth (where they lived) to where they had to report for the census, Bethlehem, we don’t think a lot of that. But Nazareth was about 80 miles north of Bethlehem, and Bethlehem’s elevation was about 1,000 feet higher than Nazareth. So, not only were they traveling about 4 days (while Mary is 9 months pregnant), but their journey was all uphill!”

I was clueless to this fact! It gave an even deeper confirmation to the fact that the Lord was with Mary, He was with all the others in The Bible who were called to climb mountains and He's with you! Just like those in The Bible, we all have the opportunity to give up on the mountains we’ve been called to. We have the choice to sit on our backside and slide down the rugged terrain to the place called defeat. But God says he will never leave us or forsake us. He says he will strengthen us. If we find ourselves on our mountain, it’s not up to us, our strength, our plan, or our own provision to get us to the top. It’s up to God.

As I was digging in this wonderful black hole and wanting to learn more, I came across some interesting information on mountains in the Bible. In his article, Joe Paprocki states that hills and mountains are mentioned more than 500 times in the Bible. He shared many examples of God revealing himself to people on mountain tops. He also referenced many times Jesus taught on a mountain, performed miracles on mountains, and retreated to a mountain to be alone and pray. Mountains can certainly represent challenges and hard times, but they also represent victory, accomplishment, and peace.! Arriving at the top (overcoming the obstacles) is a beautiful place to be.

It seems to me that we’re all on a mountain journey. We’re either heading toward an unknown obstacle, we just found out about a mountain we’re facing, we’re in the middle of the climb, or God has brought us to that high place where we get to see the big picture and celebrate being an overcomer. In the name of honesty, I’ll admit that sometimes I get so overwhelmed by the obstacles on the mountain that I neglect to put on my deer feet. I get so self-absorbed in trying to figure things out on my own that I forget about the strength, endurance, and discernment He’s given me.

In the beginning of this post, I described the most physical climb of my life. I want to also share with you that it was, by far, the most rewarding climb of my life. The view at the top was indescribable. We were greeted by a massive waterfall that cascaded all the way down the mountain.

Isn’t that how life is? God strengthens us (when we depend upon him) in the most challenging obstacles of life and we come out on the other side. It might not be the side we would have chosen or the side that looked the most glamorous, but we survive. Sometimes, we even arrive at a beautiful, secure, spacious place (or a waterfall).

He’s given us the feet of a deer. He’s set big, challenging tasks before us. Now let’s put on those hooves and scale that mountain!

"I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1-2