The picture is of the ridge of the mountain chain called the Cuillin, on the Isle of Skye. It’s one of those mountain ridges that is clearly defined, often no more than 18inches wide with the mountain sides falling steeply away on each side. The ridge joins up a series of nearly 30 mountain summits and other peaks.
You can climb to the summit of one of the mountains in the chain, and then descend a bit and traverse the ridge until you reach the next peak you want to ascend. Some people make it a thing to start at one end, go up the first mountain and then traverse the whole ridge taking in every summit until they get to the far end. Those that do this often take two days to do it, camping out on the ridge overnight. The length is only about 9 miles but it is many thousands of feet ascending and descending
It would be nice just to leap from one summit to the next, but that’s not how things work
Joseph discovered this principle in Egypt, and it’s a valuable lesson to remember, particularly when life seems to take a downturn
Joseph was sold as a slave to the Egyptians and ended up as a slave in the house of a rich Egyptian called Potiphar. God blessed Joseph and all that he did and that blessing rested on all of Potiphar’s household and property. Potiphar trusted Joseph and gave him complete charge over everything.
Sadly, Potiphar was a better judge of slaves than wives. Mrs Potiphar turned out to be a bit of a tinker. She kept trying to seduce Joseph whenever Mr Potiphar was out. Joseph resisted, but she persisted. Long story short, one day she made a grab for Joseph and she ended up holding his cloak as he made a dash for the door. Mrs P made a false sexual assault allegation and Joseph ended up in prison. Joseph had been at a summit and now he had descended rapidly from his summit.
Eventually Joseph rose again, to a much higher peak. Instead of being put in charge of a household, he was put in charge of a nation. The vastly powerful and influential nation of Egypt – equivalent to America or China today.
When you are traversing the mountain range you can’t hop from peak to peak. You have to go down to the ridge and then exert yourself all over again to get to the top of the next peak. In our walk with God, we can’t simply hop from peak to peak either. Often we have to go back down to the ridge, which is not the foot of the mountain, or even the foothills. The ridge is just a baseline for each summit. We have to learn whatever God wants to teach us to be ready for the next summit. There are always new things to learn and we can’t short-circuit the process by leaping from one mountain top to the next.
Joseph has to learn character issues: obedience, forgiveness and letting go of the past, not being a victim. He also had to learn how to run the prison system of one of the most powerful nations on earth – and in a godly way. Eventually Joseph interpreted a couple of dreams in prison, which brought him to the attention of Pharaoh and he interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams. But Pharaoh didn’t hand over the running of the country to Joseph because he could interpret dreams. He trusted Joseph with the country because Joseph had proved himself with administering the prisons.
When we are no longer on the mountain top, but plodding along the ridge, it can seem as if God has forgotten us, we have taken a wrong turn, or this is how it’s going to be for the rest of our lives. The truth is, God has a plan. The Potter is making a new pot out of you. He is moulding you for the next part of the journey. He is building into you everything that you need for the next mountaintop that He has for you (and you are never too old or too far from Him to learn what you need to learn and ascend to the next peak. Sometimes it’s character issues we need to learn, sometimes it’s skills. But whatever it is, it’s part of His plan to take us higher.
These are lessons I have to keep reminding myself as my life circumstances change. In this period of lockdown and isolation it can feel as if we have dropped down to the ridge just to plod along.
In these moments there are two things to do. The first is to say simply “Yes Jesus”. The second is to ask Him, “What do I need to learn in this season?”
Church is out there 