Let Us Not Hesitate

"The Lord will keep you from all harm - 
He will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore."
Psalm 121:7-8

The other day I got off of work just thirty minutes earlier than I anticipated. Quickly calculating the hours of daylight that I had left, I looked up a hike on my phone. I chose nearly the first one that I came across without much review, changed into some warmer clothes, grabbed my water and headed out the door. As I drove to the trailhead, I knew that the mileage of the hike was going to be a tight squeeze before the sun dropped below the horizon. 

Upon arriving at the trailhead, I jumped out of my car and was on my way; my pace as fast as it could be before being classified as a jog. The beginning of the trail included many twists and turns, so I was constantly checking my trail app to make sure that I hadn’t missed a turn or that I wasn’t on my jolly way down the wrong trail altogether. About two miles in, I got to the point in the trail where there were no more splits – all I had to do was to remain on the path below my feet. One more mile to go to the top.

I checked the time. My pace was perfect for getting to the top of this trail, taking one and a half breaths of fresh air, and then turning around and heading back to my car. I continued on. Nearing the top, I saw a spot where there was likely a beautiful overlook. “No, not enough time,” I thought to myself. The sun was quite obviously nearing the horizon as the shade grew beneath the trees and I reached the spot in which my app said that the trail had come to an end. I looked up to see a big rock face and could tell that if I could just get to the top, the view was probably amazing. 

I quickly checked the time once again and told myself, “okay, but you have to head back right away.” I climbed. Having made it to the top of what I could see from the ground, I looked up to see another level of rocks that I could scramble up to get to what appeared to be the top. So I scrambled up one more level…and then one more…and just one more. I had made it to the top. I looked up to see this. 

360 degree views. I could see the city in the distance, the snow capped mountains, ponds, rolling hills, and the sun. The sun was just nearing the horizon and then it hit me, “The adventure.” 

I took my seat at the highest point of this rock formation and simply soaked in my surroundings. The time keeper in me nudged me to get going, but I didn’t budge. 

My breaths were filled with complete peace. The view. The weather. The timing. The quiet. 

After a while, and admittingly after much more than one and a half breaths of fresh air, I began my descent. Many questions have run through my mind from that hike and into this very moment, many of which I would like to extend to you today. 

How often do we miss the adventure? How often do we hesitate until it’s too late? How often do we miss the perfect view of the setting sun at the climax of the Lord’s plan for us in that day… because we didn’t say “yes”… or maybe we couldn’t say “yes”, limited only by our self made restrictions? 

How often do we try to take timing into our own hands? How frequently do we try to make things fit into our schedule and according to our plans? Are we living as if God’s ways are higher than our own, or just saying it?  

How often could we find ourselves just going through the motions as fast as we can just to get to the next thing on our list? How often do we let the distractions around us creep in and consume our minds? How often do we forget to embrace the journey?

How often do we run out the door unprepared? I didn’t need much for the hike other than my warm clothes, water and my trail app, but isn’t that similar to our adventures in life? How often do we walk out the door without the armor of God that we are advised to wear every single day? Or how often do we forget to consult the Word of God? Or how often do we venture out without our guide? Without the direction of the Holy Spirit?  

How often do we miss an opportunity to give God praise for an adventure, because to us, we only checked a box on our to-do list and now we are on to the next? We missed the adventure.  

How often do we forget to simply look up and look out? To be still in the moment that the Lord has perfectly and meticulously brought us to along this journey? 

I made it back to my car safely and just in time. No need to use the bear spray nor a flashlight. 

What an incredible adventure in just a few hours. I hadn’t planned a moment of that journey. Just three hours beforehand, I would’ve never thought that I’d be watching the sunset from the top of a mountain surrounded by 360 views of beauty, but I did and oh, how filling it was. 

How often does God desire to give us these moments, whether as small scale as a sunset or as large scale as a new life chapter and we walk right past it…without even the consideration of saying “yes”? 

Friend. Brother in Christ. Sister in Christ. Do not hesitate to say “yes” to God. Are you wearing the armor of God? Are you meditating on His Word? Are you tuned into the Holy Spirit? 

Yes? Then stop hesitating. GO when He says to GO. GO where He says to GO. GO to whom He says to GO. And our reason for going will never change. We are called to GO to glorify Him in and through our adventures. 

My hope is that you are walking forward today encouraged to embrace the journey, reminded to enjoy the view, and challenged to follow the Lord, wherever it is that He may be leading you in the hours, days, and months ahead. 

Let us show God that we trust that His ways are higher than our own through the way that we live this day.