Skiing Down The Mountains Of Adversity

Joshua Crawford

In the heart of Utah’s Wasatch Mountains, it’s hard not to feel small amidst enormous snow-covered peaks, some reaching nearly over 11,000 feet in elevation. Despite man’s biggest and best creations being dwarfed in this setting, it’s not a fearful thing. On the contrary, it’s actually comforting to feel miniature against God’s majestic creation. Is this feeling a blueprint for handling all the moments in life which feel too big for us?

We frequently find ourselves overwhelmed not by mountains but by health scares, relationship troubles, and job insecurities. In those moments, David of the Psalms found comfort saying, “I lift my eyes up to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2) David found his peace and help only when looking upward to the one who made it all.

The mountains are God’s creation and that’s very comforting. What about our adversity? Who made those trials and tribulations? In Isaiah 45:7, the Lord says, “I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.” In the throws of that bad news from the doctor, the loved one who won’t love back, and the scary job change, if we can see God’s hand at work in our struggle just as much as see Him in the snow-capped mountains, all with the intent of working everything to our good and forging us into more Christlike men and women – the promises of Romans 8:28-29 – we can get that same mountain-peace.

If we’re not aware of God’s goodness in all circumstances, majestic mountains and life’s adversities can both be fearful things; after all, they’re each imposing and mysterious as no single angle can capture all sides of either a mountain or an adverse situation. It’s quite understandable that overwhelming situations would create fear but remember God’s “perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18) We don’t quake in fear in a beautiful mountain valley, but we worship, and we can feel the same in “the valley of the shadow of death.” (Psalm 23)

Simply put, we must embrace two truths: “the mountain peaks belong to Him,” (Psalm 95:4) and He is good and does good (Psalm 119:68). With those truths firmly under our feet, we can ski down those mountains and be sanctified and blessed by our adversity.