Breaking down walls

July 11, 2004

Personal Narrations

Joel Akin

Calgary, Alberta

Isaiah 22:5 For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.

Have you ever had one of those days where it seems like you are surrounded by trouble on every side? Where what you had built up in faith and hope is broken down? Where it seems even God, in the midst of what should be a vision of life seems to be tearing down every thing you have built?

 One of the things I like about Calgary is that we are next to the Rocky Mountains. Yet unless you stand on a tall building the bulk of the city prevents you from seeing their beauty. It has been 2-3 years since I've been able to travel to them yet they are always there, beautiful to behold and see. Sometimes you wonder which is best for you. Do you desire the valley with its quiet streams and green grass? Or do you desire the mountains where few dwell? In yesterdays dream I found myself standing on a cold, wintry mountain road. To my left was a glass shelter and to my immediate right was a huge drop-off. I was cold and tired and wanted off the mountain. Finally a snow plow arrived and someone else to shovel around the shelter. I knew it neared the hour someone would come to free me from the long wait.

When you are in the valley it is there that you receive the vision that God has for you. If you are like me you'll get all excited, thrilled and expect it to happen right then and there. If you were like me you'll plan it all out, write it down or at least think about it in your mind. He places within us a hunger to go to the mountain where He is waiting for us. That calling to the mountain is not something that everyone heeds or pays attention to. In fact most of us are content to remain in the valley where the visions are and where our needs are met. But I have found that the answers do not arrive until after you've been to the mountain and met with God. For it is there on the mountain where you are given the tools to move back to the valley to begin to fulfill that vision.

Matthew 22 tells us many are called but few are chosen. Why is that so? The answer is because many of us like to look at the mountains, spiritually speaking, but few really want to go there. It can be cold, lonely, terrifying even. For it is there that our faith is really tested and God has to teach us to heed only His voice. Yet I have also learned that until we are ready to give up the comfort of this world below that we will never have peace, never have joy and we will live with perplexity and bewilderment.

Yet there is another factor here which is even more critical. How hungry are you for that vision to be fulfilled? It is when that vision is not fulfilled that we begin to cry to the mountains. Now there are those who really do want to do Gods will. All their efforts in the valley have met with utter failure. Yet God is waiting for us to cry to the mountains; for us to cry to Him. Why? Why would God allow our valley vision to seem to die? So that we would cry to the mountain and God could then call us to the mountain.

Everyone of us has days of trouble. And there is not a one of us that has not wanted to give up when our visions and dreams seem far away and it seems as if maybe God were behind it. For is it not God that brings us to the mountain? Is it not God to puts our faith to the test? Is it not God who tries our hearts to see what we are made of? Is it not He which exposes the true intent of our heart? Why does God do this?

Early on in my first months of suffering God spoke to me often about how I had blocked Him in on every side. How I had placed Him within box after box. Another way to see that is to realize that we have placed walls around certain areas of our life. It could be we allow God in except for certain traditions or fears, or desires we don't want Him to touch. Yet to really see God move in our life we have to tear down those walls. Its not just a matter of letting God do things but we have to play a key role in the breaking. I know the one thing that is always standing in the way is my will. I have to release to God and not pick it up again and begin rebuilding those walls.

I also know that the time I spend with God on this mountain will determine the size and power of the vision. You see not all who are called to the mountain stay there. Some get up there and immediately realize they don't like and they refuse to stay. In doing so they reject Gods calling on their life and the vision, the anointing He had for them. Many are called but few are chosen. The answer to that is so simple. You can't blame God for your rejection you can only blame ourselves.

Moses was in the mountains so long I'm sure the Israelite thought he had died. Yet when he came down from Gods presence Moses had changed and God had transformed him. Exodus 34.

There are those who come to the desert and there they stay neither coming nor going anywhere in their spiritual walk. Then there are those who are called to the Foothills. They are the future leaders such as Joshua and Caleb. Yet once in a while there are those who go all the way where it is cold, the air is thin, and none stay except those chosen by God. Moses was such a man and he returned to the mountains to be with God many times.

 My calling to the mountains has come and it is there I learned to hear and speak to God. It is here on the mountain that God took that valley vision and brought it to life. So now I must wait for God to restore me to the valley with all its greenery and still waters.

And yet I can say that I have been to the mountain and I have spoken there with God. And God has written upon the tablets of my heart His message.