Give Me This Mountain
By Pastor Mitch
May 05, 2012
Picture: www.climbingusa.blogspot.com (date accessed: 16 May 2012)
MOUNTAIN OVERCOMING HEROES
Heroes are made on this mountain. This 3000 feet high granite monolith is called “El Capitan” and it is found in the valley of Yosemite Park, USA. It is holds one of the most famous rock-climbing routes in the world, which is called “The nose”. See the attached picture for the route. According to Wikipedia, the “nose” was first climbed by Warren Harding in 1957 which took 47 days. Today it is no longer a matter of whether climbers can make it to the top but how fast they would do it. Lynn hill in 1994 came up with an audacious plan to free climb (climbing without ropes) the “nose” within a day. She reached the summit of El Capitan in 23 hours, a feat considered today to be the ultimate climbing accomplishment of the late 20th century. Such mountains forge heroes. Today, many climbers continue to climb up El captain as a rite of passage for serious climbers.
“GIVE ME THIS MOUNTAIN”
In the Old Testament, great Biblical testimonies of heroism were also forged through conquering mountains. One such example was Caleb, one of the leaders in Israel’s war campaign in Canaan. In the text of Joshua 14, Caleb came to Joshua to speak of the words that the Lord said to the both of them through Moses. Because he followed the Lord wholly with a right spirit, Moses swore to him that the land that they would walk on would be his and his descendants. Even though he was 85 five years, he was still as strong as he was forty years ago. He still had the strength to go out and conquer this mountain. This was what he said to Joshua.
“Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me , and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.” – Joshua 14:12
Caleb had tremendous courage and strength in seeking to conquer the mountain to make it his inheritance. He exercised full trust in God and in His word. Even though he was fighting against “giants” and well-fortified cities at the mountains of Hebron, his faith in God never wavered. On one hand he was full of confidence in conquering the mountain and yet, he humbly hoped that the presence of the Lord may be with him in doing this work. Caleb did not take it for granted that God would just be there to help. Caleb did conquer Hebron and it became his inheritance. Young people, let’s also follow the example of Caleb in finding the strength to overcome mountains. Let’s learn to wholly follow the Lord and exercise faith in Him as he did.
