What is over the next hill?
Those few words are about the best way that I can sum it up. For many decades I was a traveler, a wanderer, if not in the location, then in my pursuits, able to stay on task in the latter, but needing, desiring more when the task was completed. In the former, once a certain amount of time had elapsed, once the lay of the land was explored, there was always another hill, someplace else to go.
You may say I was never satisfied; I would exclaim that when I was satisfied, it was time to move on.
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Heb. 11:13)
This is not my home, I will never be fully satisfied until I arrive at my eternal home. The Almighty revealed this truth long ago to me, and while I have remained in the same geographical area for some time now, the pursuits of my mind have been altered, transformed by the blessings of the Holy Spirit.
Once you set your affections on things above, things below hold little value, once you have placed your treasures in heaven, then heaven is where your heart is.
My beautiful wife and I were married on an island in the Caribbean, she was not yet saved, and her perception of that place was one of paradise. Once she saw past the advertisements and was blessed by the Living God to realize that truth also, that she is a traveler here as well, she understood where paradise is.
“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” (2nd Cor. 2:11)
If you are looking for heaven on earth, you will not find it, if you are seeking contentment here in this life and you have been born again, you yearn for what we cannot find here. There is not a next hill we are looking to go over, but a door we are waiting to pass through, a river, as those of old who knew these truths used to say, that we are waiting to cross over.
We have hope and believe in faith the promises, and, at least for me, in these two following verses, the Almighty has shown me why.
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1st Cor. 2:9)
“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Psalm 16:11)
There is rest there for the weary traveler, there we will finally be able to lay down our cross, there will be the fulness of contentment that we have been searching for.
I have always had some difficulty with the happy, smiling Christian, the one who always seems content, for each time I have broached this subject matter to them, their true colors, so to speak, are revealed. They just don’t want to talk about this evil world, they, as it was once said, just want to look at the world through rose colored glasses, conforming themselves to a false security.
The first part of Philippians 1:21 is convenient for them. “For me to live is Christ.” The second part, not so much. “And to die is gain.”
If you are always desiring to know what is over the next hill, or if you have found contentment in this life, then I would suggest that you are not a traveler and sojourner here, but you may have, as Lot did, after facing your tent towards Sodom, have determined that maybe it’s not so bad of an idea to go ahead and move into town.
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Heb. 11:6)
I have been blessed to find the purpose of my journeying here, I still want the things of this world occasionally, but not as much as I used to. If you are still searching for something here, then your affections are misplaced.
