The summer of 2003 marked the 50th anniversary of the first successful climb of Mt. Everest on May 29, 1953, conquered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Mt. Everest is the highest point on earth towering 29,053 feet above sea level. Prior to that climb, other climbers had failed to reach the summit, some losing their lives in the process. But despite the risk, many people have attempted to climb the mountain. It represents a challenge and in the anniversary year hundreds of people reached the summit using modern equipment and techniques. However, it still took courage because there was risk involved.
There are challenges that each of us face in our own lives. Some of these challenges are things that we choose to take on, just as people made a choice to climb Everest. Other challenges come into our lives uninvited. Suddenly there appears in our lives a challenge that looks like Mt. Everest. How do you face challenges in your life that stretch you to the limit? Do you run from them? Do you get discouraged? Or are you inspired by the challenge?
Some people would say that our response to challenges is determined by our personality, but I don’t think that’s true. Our response to challenges in our lives is determined by our relationship with God. We are currently in a message series called “Growing In God.” Growth involves change, growth involves challenges, growth involves facing mountains in our lives that seem unclimbable. Some people get discouraged, they give up, they stay stuck in the status quo, afraid to do anything different in their lives, afraid to step out into the unknown.
However, people who are believers, people who truly walk with God are bold as they face challenges with courage. NLT Proverbs 28:1 The wicked run away when no one is chasing them, but the godly are as bold as lions. Lions are bold, they are courageous, they run toward challenges and so do the godly. The wicked on the other hand, those who do not trust their lives to God, are fearful and cowardly, running away from challenges.
God wants you to be courageous. He wants to encourage you this morning to face the challenges you have in your life, the mountains that seem insurmountable. I’ve entitled today’s message “Receiving God’s Encouragement.” God wants to teach you to be an overcomer in every challenge that He allows into your life. And He is there to give you the encouragement that you need to scale the peaks of life. NLT Isaiah 57:15 The high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I refresh the humble and give new courage to those with repentant hearts.”
Maybe you don’t feel very courageous today, maybe you would just like to run and bury your head in the sand and hope all the challenges in your life go away. God wants to encourage you this day. He wants you to give you something you didn’t have when you started to read this message. To receive God’s encouragement, you’ve got to be willing to change. As listen to this message, think about the biggest challenge in your life and ask God to give you new courage to face it.
To hear more about this topic, listen to my November 27, 2005 message entitled Receiving God’s Encouragement