When I go mountain hiking in Italy the scenery usually consists of trees, trails and rocks. It’s what you might call a living mountain, so there is a lot of vegetation obscuring what would otherwise be a beautiful panoramic view. I’m also very busy trying to keep my balance, control my pace and generally stay out of trouble because the paths are often uneven, steep and a little tricky. So, despite making good progress upwards and having the possibility of some great vistas, I usually enjoy a much more limited range of vision.
Occasionally the view I get to see changes quite dramatically. On the one little mountain next to my parents hometown there is a spot where there was a bit of a landslide. At this point in the trail there is no vegetation. All you can see is the supremely steep, rocky slope that leads to the town below, the countryside covered in corn fields and vineyards and a whole lot of clear blue sky. It’s a spectacular panorama. It’s decidedly worth the trek to have such an unobstructed view of the world. It’s also quite terrifying.
It’s a strange thing. When you get to that place, the trail is actually wider, flatter and safer. There are a few spots leading there that are much more challenging, narrow, nearly vertical hardscrabble trails that call for one’s full attention. But those spots don’t expose you to the full scope of your height up the mountain. They are twisted and angled so that you can’t see over the edge, so you don’t get a sense of the dizzying heights you’ve reached.
The view over the landslide puts you right at the edge, or so it seems. As I said, the trail is quite wide (for a mountain trail) and quite safe. It just doesn’t feel that safe, owing to the fact that it’s about the first time you really see how far you’ve gotten, and even though it’s more than a meter wide, being able to see virtually straight down two or three hundred meters over a great rock covered slope can be quite overwhelming. In fact, I can understand how some folks become paralyzed at great heights because it’s a pretty nerve wracking experience being able to see just how far you might fall.
As God’s children we are spared from such terrifying views. Although we have the potential of falling a great deal out of God’s grace, we are never allowed to feel the full scope of His anger or disappointment over our failings. Even when we do mess up beyond reason, God holds back the full extent of his, for want of a better word, wrath. Jesus paid the whole price for our sin and error; we only get a limited amount of what we truly deserve.
And just what is it that we get from God when we mess up? Guilt; disappointment, a sense of foreboding, a feeling of rejection. That’s as bad as it gets. God doesn’t make us suffer; we aren’t punished for our sins. We might get close the edge of destruction, but Jesus takes the leap for us. We have been spared by His Cross. We are a fallen people, but God loves us to much to let us stay on the ground. He keeps us safe in His love, so safe we will never know just how close to the edge we might be.
Occasionally the view I get to see changes quite dramatically. On the one little mountain next to my parents hometown there is a spot where there was a bit of a landslide. At this point in the trail there is no vegetation. All you can see is the supremely steep, rocky slope that leads to the town below, the countryside covered in corn fields and vineyards and a whole lot of clear blue sky. It’s a spectacular panorama. It’s decidedly worth the trek to have such an unobstructed view of the world. It’s also quite terrifying.
It’s a strange thing. When you get to that place, the trail is actually wider, flatter and safer. There are a few spots leading there that are much more challenging, narrow, nearly vertical hardscrabble trails that call for one’s full attention. But those spots don’t expose you to the full scope of your height up the mountain. They are twisted and angled so that you can’t see over the edge, so you don’t get a sense of the dizzying heights you’ve reached.
The view over the landslide puts you right at the edge, or so it seems. As I said, the trail is quite wide (for a mountain trail) and quite safe. It just doesn’t feel that safe, owing to the fact that it’s about the first time you really see how far you’ve gotten, and even though it’s more than a meter wide, being able to see virtually straight down two or three hundred meters over a great rock covered slope can be quite overwhelming. In fact, I can understand how some folks become paralyzed at great heights because it’s a pretty nerve wracking experience being able to see just how far you might fall.
As God’s children we are spared from such terrifying views. Although we have the potential of falling a great deal out of God’s grace, we are never allowed to feel the full scope of His anger or disappointment over our failings. Even when we do mess up beyond reason, God holds back the full extent of his, for want of a better word, wrath. Jesus paid the whole price for our sin and error; we only get a limited amount of what we truly deserve.
And just what is it that we get from God when we mess up? Guilt; disappointment, a sense of foreboding, a feeling of rejection. That’s as bad as it gets. God doesn’t make us suffer; we aren’t punished for our sins. We might get close the edge of destruction, but Jesus takes the leap for us. We have been spared by His Cross. We are a fallen people, but God loves us to much to let us stay on the ground. He keeps us safe in His love, so safe we will never know just how close to the edge we might be.
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