1 Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the Lord spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir many days. 2 And the Lord spake unto me, saying, 3 Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.
A story is told about a mountain climber who liked to climb tall mountains for fun and to impress his friends. After years of preparation and training he felt he could handle any mountain terrain in the world, regardless of the degree of difficulty.
During a climbing trip, with five other men, he decided he would make the final climb to the summit, solo, so he could get there first and claim the glory, while the others slept. After the rest of the climbing party turned-in for the night, he put on his climbing gear and headed toward the summit. As he started his climb, he was very glad there was a full moon to help him see where he was going.
Although it was foolish to climb at night, alone, he did use a rope and put in good protection as he climbed. With the benefit of the full moon, he made rapid progress up the mountain, in spite of the fact he was climbing at night. His confidence soared as he neared the summit, but unfortunately, thick clouds were starting to build around the mountain, and visibility was deteriorating rapidly, as a winter storm developed. In just a few minutes visibility dropped to almost zero, as heavy clouds and fog surrounded him. It was now too late to turn back, so he continued to climb up the mountain, hoping the storm would blow by quickly.
While moving along a narrow traverse, now in total darkness, he got into some “rotten rock,” and slid down the side of the ridge and over the edge of a cliff. The good news is the protection he put in held, and he was still alive after the fall; although he now found himself dangling in the air, suspended from his rope, unable to see anything around him. The bad news is, he had loosely tied his outer heavy parka across the top of his backpack while he was climbing, and he now discovered he had lost it during the fall. Slowly the cold night air from the storm began to chill him to the bone through his lightweight inner jacket. After struggling to turn himself around in a circle, and not finding anything to grab onto, in desperation he cried out, “Oh dear God in Heaven, please help me!”
Suddenly, from above he heard a strong deep voice boom out, “Cut the rope!” “What?!” As the climber listened over the wind, once again he heard a deep voice say, “Cut the rope!”
Except for the wind, silence followed, as the climber continued to hang onto the rope, while hoping to be able to grab onto something that would enable him to climb to safety. Unable to see his true situation, the climber concluded, as most people would, that hanging onto the rope was his only hope.
The following day, the rest of his climbing party discovered him frozen to death, still dangling from his rope -- only eight feet above a large out-cropping of rock. Had the climber cut the rope, he would have dropped down to a relatively safe area, where he could have built a fire, using some of the surrounding scrub brush, and probably survived the night. (Author unknown)
We all have mountains that we face in our lives. Some are small and take very little effort to overcome, but then life throws us those mountains that we cannot even see the top of them let alone conquer them. I want to take a few moments to talk about mountains that a few people in the bible faced and how they over came what they were facing.
Mountain Of Purpose (Moses)
Exodus 3:1-10
1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up." 4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!"
4 And Moses said, "Here I am.” 5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. 7 The Lord said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."
Elaborate on the Moses receiving a purpose to his life from God.
Mountain Of Faith (Abraham)
Genesis 22:1-5
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. 2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about. 3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."
Elaborate on what Abraham was thinking while he was taking his one and only son up to the mountain to be sacrificed.
Mountain Of Fear (Elijah)
1 Kings 19:3-5; 8-9
3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, Lord," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. 5 All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat."
8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.
Elaborate on all that Elijah had witnessed and the miracles that God performed thru him and yet he stilled feared for his life.
The Conquered Mountain (Jesus)
1 Corinthians 15:57
57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus spoke about mountain in Matthew 17:20 when he said “I tell you the truth, if you faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Jesus conquered all our mountains thru Calvary. Not only did he take upon himself the sins of the world, he took upon himself our weakness, our sorrows, our pain, anything and everything that gets in the way of our joyous relationship with our Lord. He conquered whatever mountain you are facing in your life. All it takes is for us to head what god is telling us to do, “You have compassed this mountain long enough.” We need to turn over our mountains to God because he has already conquered all our mountains. I am going to leave you this scripture.
“For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Isaiah 41:13.
As we stand and sing, what ever the mountain, whatever the situation, all we need to do is let Him that conquered the mountian in on our journey around the mountain.
