Long and Hard

A friend and I decided to do the Pinchgut track in the Nelson Lakes National Park. We were told it was the best track for us to do if we wanted great views of the Park in the time we had available.  Naively we began.  The name of the track should have warned us!!  We climbed up, and up, zig zagging our way up the mountain side. Did I mention we were actually climbing a mountain?  The path was relentless. The name of the track began to make sense. I don’t know how many times I needed to stop to get my breath. We kept on climbing up. It decided to rain. The air became colder and clouds rolled around the mountain. Every time we turned the corner of the zig zag, I was hoping it would be the last but no....  Eventually, finally, we reached the top. Tussock grasses swayed, the wind had an icy sting and we were in the clouds - no 360 degree view - but we were at the top!!!

“Slogging it out” up the mountain was frankly hard work.  It’s long, it’s tough and many times you wonder if it is worth it, whether you will get to the top and you question your own sanity!! But, something inside urged us forward. Every now and then the cloud parted giving us a quick glimpse of the views, just enough to us keep going!

In recent weeks a four year long work assignment involving what I had called the “Big 5” was achieved – we had reached the top of the “5”.  It had been a long hard slog and unbelievably this Covid year became the means to pull my team and I through the last stage.

This “Pinchgut” track is an apt symbol of long and hard – the day by day “slogging it out” not only in work but also in faith and prayer.  For many this Covid year has been a “Pinchgut” experience too

Romans 4 and 5 bring some valuable insight to “Pinchgut” experiences. It’s about hope, perserverance, character and joy. Chapter 5:2-3 expresses it well,   “our sufferings produce perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope.”  Slogging it out, step after step, day after day, month after month, year after year – its relentless but character is being worked deep into your life – perseverance that will not give up because at the root is hope – hope you will reach the top, hope that somehow and in someway it will be worth it, hope in an Almighty God who works all things together for good. Romans 4 is the story of Abraham who hoped against hope, believing God’s promises even when it made no sense, when he couldn’t see the way forward, when it was impossible. Abraham who would become the “father of our faith” believed that God was bigger, stronger, more powerful and well able to bring about the impossible. “…because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing. “Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations.” [Rom 4:17-18]

 In my long 4 year project there have been so many times, I have identified with Abraham’s long plod of faith and taken encouragement from his example.

 ²⁰ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” 

Praying Hard and Praying Long:

Climbing mountains is about praying hard and praying long. Believe me, my four year assignment and the Pinchgut were accompanied by much prayer. Praying hard and praying long, even when you want to give up, even when you cannot “see” the view or the answers to your prayers immediately.  Behind the cloud, just out of sight, God is at work. 

A week or two later I reached another mountain top over a matter I have been praying long and hard for decades. Praying long and hard for a situation that to all intents and purpose looked impossible, seemed dead but perseverance refuses to give up believing that God’s promises are yes and amen; God raises dead things back to life; gives a son to a 100 year old couple; raises a dead Jesus from the grave; delivers a nation after 400 years slavery; brings that same scattered nation back to their homeland after 1800 years still works miracles, still does the impossible and still makes dead trees sprout – no matter how long it takes!  Sometimes we just have to keep slogging it out, moment by moment, day by day, week by week, month by month up our own personal “Pinchgut tracks”. 

Did I tell you what we did at the top?  We laughed, we danced we broke open our sandwiches, we took photos and we celebrated the sense of achievement...then the clouds turned black, the rain became sleet and we scampered off the top of the mountain!!! The views back down were fabulous!! The personal satisfaction of not giving up, of going beyond what we thought we could do was worth every step of the journey.  These verses in Romans makes complete sense. “ We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” ( Romans 5:3-5 in NLT)  .

Once you have climbed one mountain there are more to climb, but we climb with hope... we pray with hope long and hard and we catch glimpses of God’s glory along the way.  As I look back over these last two mountain type experiences despite the slog, the tears, the toil, and the journey I can see the hand of God , the grace of God and the small answers to prayer  which helped keep me on track slogging it out to the top.

Keep going – reaching the top is worth it!

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[1] See my blog on Dead Trees Sprout