“And he brought me up out of a pit of misery, and from miry clay: and he set my feet on a rock, and ordered my goings aright” (Psalm 40:2).
Christianity has come out from the swamp but pitched its tent on the edge; the peak lies ahead but there is no motivation to attempt it; there is no broad highway upon which we can embark with the throng; those that decide to scale the heights must do so on their own. Having once done so, they will not be able to rejoin their brethren dwelling on the flatlands, for they will be a reproach to those refusing to make the climb.
Yet the hills beckon! If we will but “lift up our eyes to the hills we will see from whence comes our help” (Psalm 121:1). The Lord God Himself calls us to begin the journey, to shake off the sand of the flats and set out for the firm footing of the Rock that lies ahead. If we will, He will order our goings aright!
God called Abraham out of Ur and he went with his father Terah and his nephew Lot and their families to Haran; this was not meant to their destination, but the land of Canaan. But they stayed in Haran and, it is written, “And Terah died in Haran” (Genesis 11:32).
We must press on; to stop is to embrace death; there is no rest in this life. We are called to “strive to enter in” (Luke 13:24); the Greek word used here for struggle is agonizomai from which the English “agonize” derives; it signifies struggling earnestly and fighting fiercely.
Jesus goes on; “…for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not have the strength” (Luke 13:24). Seeking is something quite different to striving earnestly; the one may get you out of the miry clay but won’t necessarily set your feet upon the Rock – and the Rock is Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4).
We must ensure that we are building our house upon the Rock and not the sand (Matthew 7:24-27).
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