An avalanche on Mount Everest last month killed 16 Sherpa
guides. Closer to home, a 28 year old man died in a climbing accident
on El Capitan in Yosemite Park last year. No one can deny the danger of
climbing. Only the fearless attempt it.
Likewise, the higher places of spiritual life are hazardous. The Psalmist acknowledges this when he says, “He makes my feet like those
of a deer and gives me sure footing on high places” (18:33). The high places
represent, spatially, closeness to God and greater spiritual sight (and insight).
The fear of spiritual heights is justified. If you fall—unlike
nature’s climber, you will not be destroyed—you will be more hurt than the security-seekers on the ground! (But think of the ecstasies you would miss!) Take confidence in the “God who is able to keep you from falling and bring you with great joy into His glorious presence without a
single fault” (Jude 24). Be fearless! Think about the spiritual revelations waiting for you at the summit! Think about Jesus high and lifted up.
We are now learning more about what may have caused last Saturday’s
Asiana airplane crash at the San Francisco Airport. But the thing that caught my attention, in
particular, was this: the airplane was flying too low. Only a few days earlier,
I had been reflecting on a spiritual principle: if you want to change your
attitude, you must change your altitude; failure to do so may cause you to crash and burn.
When our circumstances reach a critical point (we
feel like we’re coming in for a bad landing), it is crucial that we see things
as God does. He says, “For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts”
(Is. 55:9). Is this not why Paul exhorts “set your mind on things above, not on
earth” (Col. 3:2)?—more altitude?
David wished for the “wings like a dove
that he could fly away and rest!” (Ps. 55:6). But you and I don’t have to wish—we
have the wings of a dove, the Holy Spirit.
He is the One who will “make our feet like the feet of a deer, and cause
us to stand on high places” (Ps. 18:33). I can almost hear Jesus saying, “You have heard it said that 'Attitude is
everything'. But I say to you 'Altitude is
everything'.”
The other day, a friend was telling me of circumstances that were pulling him down. Without skipping a beat, I said, “You need to get high.”
If you’ve never watched one of Lou Giglio’s Passion Conference messages, you should! Lou Giglio shows pictures of galaxies millions of light years away from us to show the unimaginable expanse of the universe, praising God in a staggering magnitude. The goal of his mind-blowing pictures is to explain that the One who holds the Universe in the palm of His Hand (Is. 40:12) is the Same Who holds you and me (Ps. 37:24). And there is nothing that escapes His attention (Prov. 24:12).
The writer of Hebrews tells us Jesus is our High Priest Who intercedes for us continually from the Throne on High to give us grace in our time of need (Heb 2:18; 4:16). From Jesus Who sits at the right hand of the Throne of God, there is an abundant supply of grace to lift us up from every “downer” circumstance in this life. “Though he stumbles, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with His hand” (Ps. 37:24). This is why I told my friend, “You need to get high.”
Whenever I fly, I like a window seat—I love the view! Things on earth become very small; and the higher you fly, the smaller they get!
The benefit of being raised up with Christ and seated in the “heavenly places” (Eph. 1:20; 2:6) is the new view we get—we see the things of earth from a heavenly point of view! Living in perilous times, as we are, there is a greater need than ever to look at these events through heavenly eyes. Jesus said, “When these things begin to take place (perilous times that precede His coming) straighten up and lift up your heads” (Luke 21:28).
When we look up, we see that our Father is in control of everything. Things on earth seem to matter less. It seems to me if everything we need is to be found in the heavenly realm, we would want to get a window seat.
I chuckled out loud this morning when I read this heading in the SJ Mercury: “World’s tallest tower closes after elevator malfunction.” (See December 3 blog post: “Did you know the Tower of Babel has been rebuilt in Dubai?”) Many visitors to this Gulf city-state Dubai were disappointed when they couldn’t ascend to the 124th floor of the highest man-made structure on the planet—having traveled to this far corner of the earth to return home boasting of ‘getting high’ in Dubai. Of course, by now you recognized my rather unveiled drug reference to ‘getting high.’
Why do people get high? And I don’t mean just drugs: ‘earthlings’ get high on beauty, glamour, entertainment, riches, fame, success, and all sorts of pursuits. The reason is simple: they are trying to escape the futility of life without God, and therefore, without meaning. Paul explains that the whole world is groaning and suffering because of futility (Rom. 8:20).
But because God knows our humble estate He calls us to come up higher. But to those who try to get high without him, He says “though you make your nest as high as an eagle's, I will bring you down from there" (Jer. 49:16)... does this explain the 'malfunctioning" elevators? But to those who are “contrite and lowly of spirit” He beckons to His “dwelling place on high” (Is. 57:5). God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble; and to those who humble themselves under His mighty hand, He promises to exalt (1 Pet. 5:5-6). Reading about the failure of Dubai’s tower reminds me again of how different should be our understanding of getting high. (Perhaps it's time to read, or re-read, my wife Altha's book Come Up Higher!)
