From Mountain Top to Rock Bottom
Several years ago I led a Life Group Study called Experiencing God. It was the single most transformative moment of my life — a true Mountain Top Experience. I rode that high for months. I made major changes in my life, preaching, and relationship with God. I was determined to share this transformative material with everyone I knew. Emotionally, I was on top of the world! But, then it happened, I crashed. It was like everything went away – the enthusiasm, emotion, renewed relationship with God; it was all gone. It was like I hit rock bottom. At the time, I attributed it to sin, but even when I was riding the wave, I never ceased to be a sinner. Truthfully, I have never quite been able to achieve those heights again.
As I matured, I discovered that my experience was not unique. Many of us have had spiritual highs only to find them to be temporary, at best and at worst, a prelude to periods of discouraging lows. This has led me to seek the spiritual peaks through church conferences, workshops, Bible lectureships and even youth rallies like what we experienced last weekend. (I attended all but one major session and I have to confess, as good as the messages were, I think the singing was my favorite.) These events always refresh and energize me. They allow me to fine tune my focus. They are spiritual highs.
However, what we do now, after the mountain top, is critical because we come down from the peaks to experience the realities of our daily walk with God. As good as they feel, our emotional highs give way to everyday mundanities that, if we are not careful, can slip into the lows of discouragement and even depression.
That happened to Elijah after his victory over the 450 prophets of Baal atop Mount Carmel. God sent down fire from heaven in a contest between him and Baal and won, at least temporarily, the hearts of the people. However as Elijah was riding high in its aftermath, he realized that nothing had really changed in the hearts of King Ahab and Jezebel. Elijah fell into a deep depression and despaired for his life. It took a remarkable encounter with God to pull him from the brink. I’ll say more in my lesson. Please join us.
Joey
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