Food for Thought: Where Do You Go?

I’ve been thinking about when Jesus walked the earth how vastly different His responses were from our own. Take, for instance, the Pharisees and temple guards who argued over Christ’s teachings. They were all full of opinions, very few for, most against, Him. Rather than seek God, they chose to abandon all discourse regarding the person of Christ and went home. They gave up and just walked away! Their problem would keep for another day. But Jesus. Ah, there’s that Name! Jesus removed Himself from the people and went up to the Mount of Olives. He went to a place where He wept, He prayed, and His anointing was invigorated to minister to those who saw Him as the problem.

So, where do you go when the questions keep coming and the continual onslaught of trials show no indication of letting up? Do you go home, or do you go up to the mountain? Too often our weariness leads us to where we are most comfortable, but if we will but ascend to the hill of the Lord, we will find our strength restored, and we are once more empowered as Christ was to step into all required of us. For the religious, the problems remain come morning. Home is just a brief respite from their trouble. However, the mountain was Christ’s place of victory, and it can be ours, as well! It’s where His challenges disappeared in the light of renewed purpose. It is on the mountain where we, too, are assured that our greatest trials are transformed into triumphs, even as it was and will be for Christ. The mountain is a place of promise!

No one ever said getting there was easy. Walking up a rocky incline when it feels like the weight of the world is on your shoulders isn’t preferable to a soft bed where self reigns supreme. However, the battle is fought and won on the mountain as we prostrate ourselves before the One who is always faithful, the Great I AM! Trouble always tempts you to keep it around, but victory is seized when you decide to confront it in prayer! Be like Jesus – ascend the mountain, even at your most weary. Be like Jesus, and be victorious!

John 7:53-8:1, “Then they all left, each one to his own home. But Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives.” CJB

Matt. 6:34, “Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” NKJV