If God allowed us to live on the “mountaintop” forever, we would not experience trials, but neither would we achieve any victories. God showed His people when it was time to move visually as they wondered for 40 years in the wilderness. Through all kinds of experiences God tested His people to ready them for their last move toward the Promised Land. “Long enough,” God said, as He was ready to demonstrate His power to the Israelites so that they would trust Him in this conquest. God was ready to lead them to their possession and what they had anticipated for the duration this difficult journey. This great land sounded so good to them until they realized that with the gift came battles against giants and fortified cities! Perhaps they assumed God was going to obliterate the inhabitants of the land before they would come to enter. Ideally for them, God would have already done the work so they could just show up to inhabit all they desired. 

They had forgotten that God promised He would be present to bring down the walls of cities, give them strategies to defeat their enemies, and empower them to fight. He promised they would have a divine advantage over anyone they fought, but they would still have to fight. Still their faith wavered, even though God promised to go before them and fight for them lacking nothing, as He had proven so many times before (1:30). 

Today God still puts fear in man that causes us to move and tremble at His presence if we choose not to obey and reverence His name (2:25). If even today our accomplishments and successes came solely by our own hand or without effort, wouldn’t we be quick to overlook and forget the God who is truly our victor? Today, God is calling soldiers to come down off the mountain. He is faithful and we have experienced His strength so we can walk toward what He is calling us to do. Remembering He promises that He will go before us, walk with us and be in us to see us through. Understanding that victory is only going to come if we are relying on His strength and not our own. He gives us the free gift of His salvation and then tells us to “work out” our salvation in fear and trembling (Phil 2:12b). Are we discouraged because the Christian life is more difficult and challenging than you expected to experience? Don’t be. God’s gifts to you are perfect, because through them, God makes you perfect as well (Mt 5:48; Js 1:17). May we all be satisfied in knowing that having God in us is enough for success and the experiences He brings us through will put us back on the mountaintop.