“The cabin looked closer than it really was” was the best response I could provide to my weary bride. This was our first visit to Breckenridge, Colorado. The elevation in downtown Breckenridge is 9,600 feet above sea level. We were out hiking, and we set a distant cabin as our intended destination. So, we climbed. And we climbed. And we climbed some more. The hillside was loose rock and dirt, so we had to do a series of switchbacks to reach our destination, which turned out to be a first aid station on the side of the ski slope. Lynne quipped that she was going to need a first aid station by the time we got there!

Mountaintop experiences can be exhilarating, in both the physical and spiritual realm. The higher you climb, the easier it is to look back at the path you have traveled and the distance you have come. Colorado is a great place to experience that. It has 54 mountain peaks over 14,000 feet above sea level. I bought the T-shirt that lists them all. When you live in Houston, Texas, where the highest elevation is on a freeway overpass, us flatlanders will be sucking wind at those higher elevations. But when you reach the top, you feel you are on top of the world.

Jesus’s closest disciples had the ultimate mountaintop experience. “And after six days Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, 'This is my beloved Son; listen to him.‘ And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.” (Mark 9:2-8, ESV)

This mountaintop experience would be hard to beat. Jesus is transfigured before them, and His garments are shining with Heaven’s brilliance. It gets better. Moses and Elijah join Him, and they hold a prophetic consultation. No Bible conference you or I have ever attended has had a lineup like that! They did what you and I would probably want to do: camp out there. They offered to build three tents, one for each of them. That was when the keynote speaker gave His presentation. “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” The conference was over! Jesus led them back down the mountain.

God, in His grace and mercy, will periodically give us a “mountaintop” experience where He speaks clearly to us. Unlike the voice from the cloud, we will hear the “sound of a low whisper” (1 Kings 19:12). It may not be on a mountain; anyplace away from worldly distractions will suffice. After you have heard God’s voice, you will, like the disciples, go back down to the demon-infested valley to confront the work of the enemy (read Mark 9:14-29).

The fact is, you can’t live on the mountaintop. Once you get above the tree line, the vegetation is stunted, as would our spiritual life be if we never came back down to the valley. The mountaintop experience is to prepare us for the valley, but now we know His voice and we are able to hear Him in the valley. The mountaintop experiences are precious but few because we are to walk in faith, looking “not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). The Christian who remains on the mountaintop will have a spiritual life as stunted as the vegetation around him.

When you have your mountaintop experience, thank God for His grace and mercy, but then head back down to the demon-possessed valley. For it is there that the battle is raging. It is in the valley where God calls you to fight for the advance of the Kingdom!

What say ye, Man of Valor?
Semper Fidelis!