Rock Climbing - Who is Directing Your Climb?

College Retreat - Rock Climbing at Rock N Water

Rock climbing really is such an interesting metaphor for life’s journey.  You stand at the bottom of the rock, staring up, unaware of what cracks and crevices await you, blind to what lies over the ridge and overwhelmed with the enormity of the challenge.  There is such a mix of feelings dwelling inside your mind… anxiety, fear, anticipation and excitement.  The same emotions you often experience as you contemplate your future.  As believers we know that we are to "be anxious for nothing”, putting our complete trust in the Lord – our Rock.  Scripture tells us to keep our eyes focused on the Lord, not looking to the left or the right, but straight ahead.  So you harness yourself tightly to the Lord and gear up as you begin your journey. 

You move quickly in the beginning, thinking it is easier than you anticipated; you are more capable than you expected and as a result you start to put your trust in yourself.  The first part of the journey is close to the ground and there isn’t a great distance to fall, but it is not long after when you meet your first small challenge.  You stop, ponder your next move and then continue on.  After that first successful maneuver your trust in yourself and your own strength grows as your need for the Lord, or the ropes that are holding you in place, diminishes.  And as you continue on, up the rock, deciding which path to take, you find yourself thinking back to those who have gone before you. You begin to evaluate their climb and follow their lead.  But who is to say they took the right path?  Are you following others who sought Godly direction and kept the straight path or is it someone who strayed to the right or left? 

You continue on your journey and are met with challenges that are too difficult for you to conquer on your own.  So now where do you find your direction?  Is it from your friends (or the world) who have a limited perspective of your journey and are yelling an array of directions and opinions, steering you to the left or to the right?  Or are you focused forward on the Lord, stopping to wait for Him to reveal the next step to take in your journey?  It’s not knowing your next move that causes your fear and anxiety to resurface.  You cling to the rock, paralyzed and unable to move forward.  You tell yourself either you are not capable of making the move, or just do it without thinking – both dangerous forms of pride.  It’s because you are so focused on yourself that you don’t hear the Lord say, “No, stop and wait and rest in me.  I will give you the strength and power to overcome.” 

So you refocus and wait as the Lord directs you to the next ledge.  You look at it and think to yourself, “There is no way; this is impossible.”  But you know it is what you need to do to move forward so you are obedient and take the leap.  But through that process you slip and stumble before finally reaching the next foothold.  Once there, you take a moment to realize and remember you are connected to a rope and without that rope, holding you there, you would have surely met destruction.  Do you slip and fall in life?  Yes, even when you are doing exactly what the Lord wants you to do.  As a matter of fact, you will often slip and fall because you are doing what the Lord is calling you to do.  He is growing you, refining you and building your trust and faith in Him.  Your hope, if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, is in that moment when you reach the end of the journey, the top of the peak, and the Lord says, “Well done good and faithful servant”.   Don’t you want to know you have climbed well?

So, I ask you…

Who is directing your climb through life?  The world?  You?  Or the Lord?

Are you off to the left or to the right of God’s path for you?

Are you at a point in your journey where you need to wait on the Lord for His next direction?

Is He calling you to do something, yet you are too fearful to be obedient because you may slip and fall?

If we want to have the “perfect climb” we have to be tied tightly to the Lord, looking to Him for every step of the journey.