Morning By Morning #177

Go up on a high mountain.

Isaiah 40:9

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

Our knowledge of Christ is somewhat like climbing a “high mountain.” When you are at the foot of the mountain you actually see very little and the mountain itself appears to be only half as high as it really is. And if confined to a little valley you scarcely discover anything except babbling brooks as they descend to the base of the mountain. Yet as you climb the first rising knoll and look back, you see the valley lengthen and widen beneath you. Then as you continue, higher you see the surrounding countryside for four or five miles around and are delighted with the widening perspective. As you continue, the scenery enlarges until at last, when you reach the summit, you can look north, south, east, and west for many more miles. Perhaps you can see a forest two hundred miles away, a shimmering river meandering through a valley, smoking chimneys of a manufacturing town, and the masts of ships in a busy seaport far below as you look in various directions. The view delights you as you declare, “I could never have imagined all this could be seen from this elevation!”

The Christian life is much the same, for when we first believe in Christ, we see very little of Him. The higher we climb, however, the more we discover His beautiful attributes. Yet who has ever reached the summit? Who has ever fully “grasp[ed] how…high and deep is the love of Christ…that surpasses knowledge” (Eph. 3:18-19)? Still, the apostle Paul, elderly and gray-haired and shivering in a dungeon in Rome, could say with greater conviction than we can, “I know whom I have believed” (2 Tim. 1:12). Each experience of his had been like climbing a hill, each trial like ascending another summit, and his approaching death like attaining the top of a “high mountain” from which he could see the totality of the love and faithfulness of God to whom he had committed his soul.

Dear friend, “Go up on a high mountain”!

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

Indeed, our knowledge of Christ increases as we climb the mountains of life with Him. Yet in this life we will never attain complete knowledge. In fact, it seems that the more we learn, the more we realize we don’t know. Paul prayed we would be able “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” and “to know this love…” But he continues, “To know this love that surpasses knowledge” (Eph. 3:18 – 19).

In other words, Paul prayed we will know something that is unknowable—at least in this life! As we attempt to come to terms with this thought, doesn’t it make sense in the following respect: the love of Christ is infinite, but we and our minds are finite. Perhaps we will spend eternity discovering the depths of His infinite love.

“How great is God—beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out” (Job 36:26). When Christ returns, however, this will change, for—“Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Cor. 13:12).

“O Sovereign LORD, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do?” (Deut. 3:24).