The Beauty of the Hill
This past Tuesday, as I was listening to my worship playlist, I received a brand new revelation. The song was one that was quite familiar to me. I had heard the words many times before but never like this. The lyrics echoed in my head:
Some may trust in horses and chariots
But I will look to the hill and I will not fear
Some may say that they found another way
But my eyes are on you and I will not move
On the hill there's a cross
On the cross there is blood for me... for me
And that's when it dawned on me that faith is the ability to climb. And not just climb, but climb when there are perfectly flat roads only a stone's throw away that would provide a much easier route. When really you could just hitch a ride. The modern world is very much keen on the fastest, easiest route, is it not? We are trained to "think smarter, not harder", right? So why climb?
The song goes on to say:
Oh precious is that blood on the hill
It still has the power
Wonderful power
To heal our diseases
To cover our weakness
Ah, yes of course! That is why we climb. Because there is a healing that only comes with higher elevation! And the thing is, some of us don't even know that what we need is up there. So we google map (or Wayz) every way we can to bypass the hill. After all, hills are obnoxious! Give me a choice between getting sweaty, dirty and tired to the bone walking one inclined step at a time and I certainly will chose an alternate. But what I'm realizing is, there is no shortcut to where I want to go.
If perfect love cast out sin, then I am left weighed down with all of my infirmities, failures and problems until I have met that love. Until I've walked to the place where that bloody sacrifice was made to cover me. So if you are struggling with which road to take, take the one that leads to the cross. The "bloody and beautiful" display at the top is the only remedy for all the pain, broken, anxiety, sickness, and dysfunction that you have been carrying this whole time. And after you get there and have taken what was there for you and left what you no longer needed, the rest of the journey is a breeze. Upward to your liberation and downward in victory- that is the beauty of the hill.