If you know anything about hiking up mountains, you know the trails are hard. You’re lucky if they are well-maintained but generally the higher up you go, the less maintained they are. Sometimes, there is debris in the trail from recent storms. Sometimes, the trail you’ve decided to hike is not frequently used and it is hard to find and follow. Sometimes, the trail is rocky. Sometimes, the trails are muddy. In other words, mountain trails are not paved roads.
God proclaimed to Israel through the prophet Isaiah that one day the children of Israel would be punished for their sins and their unwillingness to obey and follow God. Their homeland would be destroyed, and they would be taken into captivity, many would die and those that survived would be turned into slaves. Their captivity would last decades and they would cry out to the Lord for salvation and deliverance. It is in Isaiah 49 that God tells them:
In the time of my favor I will answer you,
and in the day of salvation I will help you;
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people,
to restore the land
and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’
and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!
God was going to save them after their period of punishment was over. He would not leave them forever. It is in this proclamation that God says (what is in my opinion) one of the most beautiful sentiments in the Bible.
“They will feed beside the roads
and find pasture on every barren hill.
They will neither hunger nor thirst,
nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.
He who has compassion on them will guide them
and lead them beside springs of water.
I will turn all my mountains into roads,
and my highways will be raised up.
What had been barren lands would become pastures once again. The Israelites would not hunger and thirst and no longer be desolate. God would have compassion on them and guide them back to the springs of His water. He would turn their mountains into roads and raise up his highways.
God would turn the mountain time of their lives – their captivity – into paved highways.
God has the power to turn into the most challenging times into paved roads for us. Sometimes those challenging times are brought upon by our own actions – like the Israelites. And sometimes those mountain times are brought about by the actions of others. And even sometimes those hard mountain trails are simply ones we have to walk because we live in this perishing world. God can take any of those mountain trails and turn them into paved highways for you – if you trust in Him and let Him guide you to the springs of His water.
🏔️ God does not want to leave you on the mountain alone. He wants to make the path easier for you.
🏔️ God will have compassion on you if you turn back to Him and let Him guide you through the mountain and to the springs of the water of His life.
🏔️ God can take any mountain – no matter how challenging and no matter how strenuous – and pave it into smooth roads for you.
Don’t be like the Israelites and refuse to walk in the good paths of God (Jeremiah 6). It only led them to ruin. And, don’t refuse God’s help and try to tackle your mountain alone – you’ll never make it.
Let God turn your mountains into roads. #MountainsofGod #MountaineeringForGod
Adonai's Appeal 