My old pastor, God rest him, seemed to like this analogy of a mountain road to describe life. He did a lot of work in the national parks and for someone who’s also travelled a lot, it really resonated with me. Throughout my ministry experience I often used his analogy to describe God's vision for our lives.
I don’t know how many of you have driven through mountains before, but it’s quite a sight. You’re on a thin strip of pavement going between towering cliffs. There might be a river a few hundred feet down or some houses way up at the peaks.
Going through the mountains is really beautiful, but like life, sometimes it can be quite an adventure. If you’ve driven through mountains you know it isn’t a straight shot. There’s sharp blind turns, dips, and climbs. The road could be so twisted that you start to wonder if you’re even heading in the right direction anymore. There can be blinding snow or rain. There’s probably a semi-truck directly in front of you. So, you can try to peek and see what’s ahead, but most of the time you don’t really know what’s coming up. And if you’re not paying attention, you could easily go off the rails.
But that’s life, isn’t it? It’s filled with turns we don’t see. Filled with the unexpected, for better or worse. There’s highlands and valleys, highs and lows. To expand on this, let's turn our attention to the story of Joseph in Genesis. See Joseph had a really hard life. His journey was all over the place. He was the favorite child, treated highly above his other brothers. Then they turned and beat him, left him for dead, changed their minds and sold him into slavery. Sharp turn.
Then things seemed to climb up for a bit, he was favored over the other servants and put in charge of a huge estate. He was trusted and reputable. Then he was framed and thrown into prison. Bam! Right back down in the valley. As Joseph is in prison, he starts to interpret dreams. A gift he’s had for some time now. He delivers good news and bad news. He eventually interprets the Pharaoh’s dreams and warns him of an incoming famine. Joseph gives him some advice on how to survive the famine and then he’s brought out of prison and made deputy Pharaoh over Egypt. His journey was all over the place, he was favored and enslaved, honored and disgraced. He definitely didn’t know the mountain road he was going to be on.
He meets his brothers later in life and they know the rough road they set him on and now they’re afraid he’s going to want revenge. But Joseph says to them. “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20). Joseph saw life now with a different perspective. He saw God’s plan, God’s vision for his life.
We see our lives as the driver along this mountain road. We may see some points coming up, but for the most part, we don’t know. We can only see and only control what’s right in front of us. But this is about God’s plan, what God sees for our lives. See God is looking down at the whole mountain pass. He knows each turn, he knows the highs and lows, he knows the storms we’re going to have to go through. Joseph got this understanding, to the point where he could say “what you meant for evil, God used for good.”
I know that it’s often hard to trust that things are going to turn out alright. The world seems filled with a lot of valleys and brokenness. I don’t need to tell you that. But God is saying just stay on the road. He says trust that I’m going to bring you to where you need to go. We may look at our lives and think we’re taking all the wrong turns, but what the world means for evil, God uses for good.
God sees our whole lives. There’s nothing coming that surprises Him. We may have no clue what our lives are going to look like, what roads we’re each going to take but we can rest in the fact that God knows. That’s why we can have confidence in the mountains or valleys. Because it’s not up to us to figure out where we’re going. Proverbs 3 says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (vv 5-6).
God chose to make you. God chose for you to be in this time. There is nothing in your life that is out of His control or His plan. Trust that the God who set you on your life path has a destination. So, buckle up, embrace the journey God is taking you on.
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