How Can You Climb out of the Valley When You Can't Find Your Hiking Boots?

How Can You Climb out of the Valley

When You Can’t Find Your Hiking Boots

             Sadly, the valley is where most of us live; plodding along day after day just letting life happen.  You watch as others climb the mountain and know they are experiencing something you haven’t had and you feel your soul stirring.

            Have you ever watched a travelogue showing the Alps in Switzerland?  Suddenly the picture zooms in on a lovely village nestled down in a valley.   Towering around the village are huge mountains rising above the clouds at times.  It seems like an impossibility to reach the top, but looking closer we see a moving dot here and there at different levels.  These are people who dare to conquer the mountain.  They will tell you when they reach the top, all struggle is forgotten as they look out over a scene so awesome, they never want to go back down. 
            Down here in the valley where we live, occasionally something stirs our soul and we think we’ll get out our climbing gear and try it out.  It’s then we discover we can’t find our hiking boots and it’s surely impossible to hike without those boot.  We can’t buy another pair because we only get one pair in a lifetime.  God gives us a set of armor to wear when we go into spiritual battle and part of that armor is our hiking boots.
            We know we should be wearing them all the time and not stashed away to never find again.  God tells us in the Word, “Wear shoes that are able to speed you on as you preach the Good News of peace with God.” Ephesians 6:15  [TLB].   God knows most of us certainly aren’t ready to climb the mountain, because we don’t have the readiness; the preparedness, of relying solely on God; we can’t even find our hiking boots.
Roman’s 10:15 tells us, “How beautiful (blessed) are the feet of those who bring glad tidings (preaching the gospel of peace).
            Here we are searching for our hiking boots when a knock comes at the door.  Oh, no!  It’s the enemy and before we can slam the door in his face, he sticks his foot in it and he quickly comes inside.  He looks around and says, “Where were you going?”
            “I thought I might try climbing the mountain”, I answered quietly.
            “Don’t be ridiculous; why would you want to leave this beautiful place right here?   You’re pretty comfortable here; you don’t have to take any risks or try to be any better than you.”
            After a while, you begin to think he’s right and settle down in your easy chair; so comfortable where you are.  You look around see your Bible; maybe you’ll read a verse or two.  “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.”  Psalm 84:5  It’s talking about a journey.  Instead of staying in the valley, verse 6 says, “When they walk through the Valley of weeping, it will become a place of springs where pools of blessing and refreshment collect after rains.”  TLB  
            Although this is an allegory it is all too true.  We generally settle down to live in a valley and when trouble comes, we weep over it and can’t seem to rise above it.  Yet in Matthew 6:25, Jesus said, “Do not worry about your life… your heavenly Father knows what you need”.  We need to get out of that cottage of self-pity in the valley.  What we must realize, is that beyond the valley, all our weeping will “become a place of springs where pools of blessing and refreshment collect after the rains.”
            We need to get on those boots and begin our pilgrimage; the journey to higher places.  Why?  Because in verse 7 it says “They will grow constantly in strength”.   But where are my hiking boots?  Did I outgrow them and throw them away?  When we think we are so spiritually grown up and can do everything on our own; what we are really saying is, “I don’t need you any longer, Jesus.”  Maybe that’s where I took my boots off.
            It could have been when I became too busy doing things for Jesus.  At that time I didn’t have time to pray or read the Word.  Maybe the boots came off then.
            When I first was saved, I had such joy and peace and I trusted the Lord for everything.  But, as time went on my joy grew less and less.  Could be my boots came off then.
            Then I read Psalm 51:10-13, “Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.  Then I will teach transgressors your ways.”
            That’s where I left them; where I lost the joy of my salvation. I can’t spread the Good News without that joy.  When I find my joy, I’ll find my boots.  Now I know what to do; pray, study the Word and come into God’s presence with praise and worship.  Then I will be restored the joy of my salvation.  Do you want your feet fitted with readiness so you can walk steadfastly and surefooted as you begin the climb?
            We can sit in our homes and place of comfort, saying “I’m saved, bless God.”  Or, we can put on those hiking boots and begin the climb toward the greater presence of God.  We can be a witness to everyone, or to no one.  As for me, I want to grow and climb and preach the Good News to anyone who will listen.  That’s why you are reading this today; it’s one way to spread the News.  
          If you’re a child of the King, get out those boots, dust them off and head for the mountain.  They say the joy you experience when you climb high enough is worth it all.  Be blessed!