These Mountain Goats make it Look Fun
The Lord has designed mountain goats to live on almost vertical cliffs. Nothing can match this goat’s grace and sure-footed agility.
Biologically, these goats have special hooves. The hard outer portion helps them dig into the small, narrow ledges which they leap onto. But the bottom of their hoof has a soft leathery pad, which adheres to the rocky terrain.
In North Wales, both male and female mountain goats have curved horns which protect their heads and necks from injury during falls, just like a helmet would. This particular species also has rectangular pupils instead of round ones. It gives them great peripheral vision, allowing the goat to see all the footholds available to them.
Mountain goats take small dainty steps, keeping their center of gravity over their hooves. The goat’s bodies are flattened too, from side to side as the image below shows.
In the spring, the mother goat will choose the easiest path down the mountain,, so her newborn kids can follow.
If you’re human, climbing gear and a safety helmet is a wiser choice if you want to scale these same cliffs.
Christians are called to Live Like Mountain Goats
The Lord has called us to keep making leaps of faith.
It doesn’t come naturally. My self-protective instinct kicks in. During a leap of faith we can’t trust in our own abilities, wisdom or skill. The Holy Spirit is asking us to do something beyond what we can do. That’s why it’s called living by faith.
Faith means our trust and dependence must be on Him.
He asks us to do things we are afraid or unwilling to do. Things that make us tremble inwardly at the thought. What if we fail? Making “leaps of faith’ into the unknown future can be both exiting and scary. We don’t know what will happen. What if God doesn’t show up?
But what if He does?
The real challenge is to trust God in a new and deeper way.
A Christian’s leap of faith takes three things:
- A belief that God has spoken.
- A determination to obey and do what He asks.
- Raw Courage.
Above all else, it’s emotionally unnerving.
The Difference between Mountain Goats and Believers
Mountain goats are comfortable leaping on the steep, rocky cliffs. The lambs become more confident and sure-footed with practice. Soon traveling up and down the near-vertical rock wall becomes easy and natural.
But with Christians, God always stretches us with new challenges. Our vision and understanding of His divine nature deepens as we repeatedly need to rely on Him.
Elijah’s Trust in His God
One of the Prophet Elijah’s greatest leaps of faith occurred in 1 Kings 17.
Sent by God, Elijah fearlessly announced to King Ahab that there would be no more rain in Israel until he said so. Yahweh then directed this godly man to hide himself next a brook and promised to send a “raven catering service” to bring him all his meals. The ravens brought Elijah bread and meat in the morning and again in the evening.
I’m just curious—where did these birds get all this food from?
Elijah hid from Israel’s wicked, idolatrous king and queen for three years. He must have stayed by the brook for several months.
That’s a lot of meals; yet God provided.
Perhaps at first, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel didn’t take the prophet’s words seriously. Until the rainy season ended and not a single drop of water had fallen. The seasonal rains are vital. Israel is in a desert. People collected the rain water in cisterns and underground caves to have a fresh water supply during the rest of the year.
Suddenly, Elijah became the most wanted man in the kingdom.
Seeking God’s Hidden Prophet
I don’t believe Ahab or Jezebel wanted to repent and get right with God. Instead, if Elijah ever got caught, the palace torturers would go to work.
The prophet’s original prophesy made clear that his word alone would make it rain again. So the King’s plan would be simple. Use threats and violence to force the prophet to remove the curse he’d placed upon Israel.
Then kill him before he could prophesy again.
Elijah’s only protection? Follow God’s clear commands 100%. It was like walking in a minefield. Any move could be the wrong one.
Yahweh alone would have keep him safe.
The Prophet’s Biggest Leap of Faith
Later, when the drought became more severe, God told Elijah to move to a new place.
7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” (1 Kings 17:7-9 NIV)
Going to Sidon must have been a gigantic leap of faith for Elijah. Because the Sidonian king, Ethbaal, was Queen Jezebel’s father. (1 Kings 16:31)
If discovered, the troublesome prophet would be gift-wrapped and sent back to Jezebel as a present.
Elijah knew he had heard Yahweh’s voice. But perhaps there was a little tussle in the prophet’s heart. Trust God and go sleep with rattlesnakes? Or run in a different direction?
In the end, the prophet obeyed and stayed safely under the Lord’s protective will.
Conclusion
When God challenges me to take a leap of faith, it’s terrifying. My first thought?
“I can’t do this.”
But that’s kind of the point.
So what was your last “leap of faith?”
All images were downloaded from Pixabay.com
Resources:
Kathleen Dillard’s story about her family being called to be missionaries to India. link
A video of mountain goats scaling almost vertical cliffs.(Video)
A video of newborn mountain goats following their mother down the cliff for the first time. Link
