False Summits

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”— Isaiah 55:8–9

This picture was taken atop South Sister in Oregon in July 2015, and it will always be one of my favorites. It was the first mountain I climbed with my son.

We look relaxed and happy in the photo, but the truth is, this was one of the hardest hikes I’ve ever done. I was woefully out of shape, and South Sister is one of the most prominent peaks in America. (If you know, you know). Near the top, I had to stop every few feet just to catch my breath.

Ten steps and stop.

Ten steps and stop.

Ten steps and stop.

Images of a heart attack played through my imagination the entire time. Then, just when I thought my lungs were about to explode, there it was...

The summit!

Only it wasn't the summit. It was a false summit--a point on the mountain that looks like the top from a distance, but isn't.

Let me tell you, when your legs are dead, your lungs are burning, and your heart feels like it may explode, a false summit can be disheartening enough to make you want to quit. One moment you think you’ve nearly arrived. The next, you realize there is still more mountain ahead. Sometimes, much more mountain.

If you don’t know it’s coming, that moment can change your mindset in a hurry. Disappointment turns into frustration. Frustration turns into anger. Anger turns into bitterness.

But if you know false summits exist, something changes. When you know it's there, it becomes just another waypoint on the journey--much easier to face. You may still be tired. You may still be discouraged. But you are not surprised.

Life is like that. Sometimes things are not as they seem.

The same is true in our walk with God.

God is not always who we imagine Him to be. His ways are higher than ours. His thoughts are higher than ours. And when life suddenly looks different than we thought it should, we are the ones who need to reframe our understanding.

The mountain does not change. Our understanding of it does.

That is why verses like Isaiah 55:8–9 matter so much. They remind us that when we reach a place that feels confusing, disappointing, or harder than expected, God has not lost the trail. We are simply seeing less of the mountain than He does.

And the view really is better from the top.