Waiting on God!

This past Saturday I headed for Sauk Mountain one of the many peaks in the North Cascade Mountains. This one is incredible as it offers spectacular views of several extrodinary summits, such as Mt Ranier. It would be a 3 mile climb to the top. You still had to drive a bout 5 miles or so up the mountain to even get to the trailhead. I knew this trail was popular in July for it's wildflowers. However, I was impatient and wanted to summit now.

Three miles before reaching the trailhead, we were abruptly stopped in front of a huge Douglas Fir tree that had fallen across a heavily snowy pass. I groaned inwardly, realizing that we were going no further up the mountain..in a car that is. I was so determined to get up to the top, I suggested that we hike the three miles to the trailhead. We'd have to make it fast as I knew we were adding about two more hours to the hike. Especially since we're climbing in about two or three feet of snow now. The road once completely dry was now lost in several feet of snow.

After climbing an hour and a half, stopping twice to massage warmth back into our feet, and fearful of getting hypothermia, we stopped and considered our options and our gear. Had we packed the necessary gear to climb five more miles in the snow and make it back down before dark, we could keep going. Our frozen feet and the fact that temperature was dropping steadily as we lost altitude was not encouraging.

Completely discouraged we agreed to hike around the next bend and if we couldn't get to the trailhead in half mile we'd have to give up and turn around. At this point we came in contact with two other hikers coming down. They informed us they had not reached the trailhead and would not have time to get back down the mountain. These were the only two hikers we had seen the whole day.

Rounding the bend, brought us to yet another steeper, snowy slope. My pedometer at this point only read we had been hiking 2 miles. We were going way too slow to make it to the summit and back down before dark. Disgusted at my lack of preparedness, we turned our backs to the summit and quickly headed down.

All was not lost as we made our way back to the half-way point up Sauk Mt. We rested with a bite to eat and enjoyed the scenery.

This made me think of how similar this is to our spiritual paths. Sometimes I think I have it all figured out...that this is where I'm supposed to go or where I'm supposed to be. I get hasty and rush ahead of God, eager to get to my destination or my goal. When in fact, I'm quite unprepared for this journey. I've not prayed or thought through this and therefore, lose a sense of preparedness physically,mentally, and spiritually.

We forget that our omnicient God sees ahead of the trail and where it lies, while we see only a few feet ahead of us. God tries to speak to us in our stubborness by putting roadblocks of mercy before us, yet we stumble on trying to make it work. We find ourselves in debt, hurting, wondering why we can't hear God, crying out for a way of escape, wondering why life is so difficult and we've lost our way. Perhaps the trail we took wasn't the one God would have us hike just yet, maybe in time, but we figured we were spiritually ready and fit to handle this and rather than wait on God, we begin on our own strength.

There is so much Scripture about waiting on the Lord. In this Christian life, it is only through God's strength and direction we can be in His will on the right trail. We are as a hiker on a dark trail without a headlamp, without the Lamp of the Lord leading us through our dark valleys and where we find His perfect will.

Had I contacted the Ranger before my hike, he would have warned me that the trail was not accessible, and I should wait till at such a time the trail would be fit to climb. In my haste to summit this huge mountain, I failed to seek the one who could've saved me from my miserable adventure and disappointment of a failure.

I know if we would just seek the Lord and wait on Him, we would spare ourselves so many disappointments and regrets!

Next time God sends some "trail debris" I hope I will stop, wait, and follow Him. More so, I pray that I will seek the Lord first before I try to tackle a trail in my own strength and will.