Onward and Upward to the Higher Ground with God
The Rocky Mountains have always captured my heart and gripped my imagination. My Uncle Ted had a ranch just northwest of Denver, and from the time I was little, our visits to his place formed so many special memories.
Driving across the flat plains of eastern Colorado, the Front Range of the Rockies looked like one long, craggy, frightening fortress. In my dad’s beat-up old Dodge truck, I worried we would never make it across those high peaks. I imagined that if we did wind our way up them, we’d find ourselves stranded on the tippy-top spike of some mountain spire.
But I got quite a surprise as we rounded the last peak at Kenosha Pass—the road sloped out onto a high, broad mountain plateau. As far as the eye could see, flat grassland spanned an endless horizon with small ranches dotting the far-reaching landscape.
Many years later as a teenager, I took a two-week pack trip, riding my horse through the Rawah wilderness of the Rocky Mountains, north of Estes Park. Time and again, we came upon high-altitude meadows carpeted with an array of mountain wildflowers.
I was enthralled with those beautiful mountain plateaus, and I came to see them as an illustration of 2 Samuel 22:37 which says, “You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way.”
To me, that describes the Christian life. Our trials appear to be mountainous obstacles looming ahead of us. We imagine frightening heights from which we could fall, scary ledges from which we could tumble, and pinnacles that make our heads spin. We question what awaits us at the crest of our trial. What will the other side be like? Will we be stuck? Stranded?
But when, by God’s grace, we arrive on the other side of that trial, we discover a new spiritual vista. God has broadened the path beneath us and has placed us on a higher plateau.
There’s a favorite old hymn that captures this same feeling:
“I am pressing on the upward way
“Higher Ground” by Jason Oatman, Jr.
New heights I’m gaining every day.
Still praying as I onward bound,
Lord plant my feet on higher ground.
Lord lift me up and let me stand,
By faith on heaven’s tableland:
A higher plain than I have found,
Lord plant my feet on higher ground.”
It may be no surprise, then, to discover that I chose to name this mixed-media painting of a high mountain plateau Higher Ground.
Using watercolor, pen and ink, and acrylic, I painted a colorful spray of flowers, doing their best to survive against a backdrop of craggy peaks and a mountain storm. With my brush strokes on the right side of the meadow, I wanted to create an illusion of snow. The stream of rain from the stormy clouds came from four or five sweeps of my watercolor brush. For the scattered flowers, I took a bit of a risk. With a very wet brush in my mouth, I flicked my head a little to make the paint splatter, dotting the canvas all at once. The end result became for me a serene image of flourishing rest after the storms and treacherous paths of trials.
Do you face a mountainous trial today? No matter the tough terrain before you, do not be afraid.
The Lord knows where he leads you, and it is not to some dizzying height from which you will surely fall.
After the trial, God will bring you to a beautiful plain on a high plateau. The broader path he provides will bring rest, peace, and increased confidence in him.
When we come through a trial holding onto the Lord, we discover the sweet relief of living on higher ground.
We experience clearer vision, higher hopes, and a firmer conviction that God knew exactly the heights to which he was taking us. So, as I often remind myself, “Onward and upward.” Upward to higher ground.
–Joni Eareckson Tada
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