“I press on toward the goal to win the [heavenly] prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14 The Amplified Bible)
On any staircase, a step is composed of the tread and riser. The tread is the part of the step that is stepped on. It is constructed to the same specification as any other flooring on the staircase. The tread “length” is measured from the outer edge of the step to the “riser” between steps. The riser is the vertical portion of the staircase between steps. I love that vertical analogy because vertical it projects a directional picture of up and down. We talk up to God and He speaks down to us. We call up to God and He comes down and sees about us. We boldly approach up to the beauty of holiness in God’s holy abode, at the throne of grace, and He reaches downward to His saints who are stepping toward being holy, whether in our private place or in the beauty of the sanctuary. We cry up when things are out of control and God’s looks down, takes control, and arranges things over time to work it out for our good. The staircase to heaven is a place where we must find an advantage daily. Thank the Lord that He is transcending, but also ‘condescending and meets us on the staircase. In other words, thanks be to God for our risers on our spiritual staircase where God sits high, but looks low! Hallelujah somebody!
Jacob called the staircase a ladder. David just said, “Hear the voice of my supplication when I cry to Thee for help.” And then David said later in the same Psalm, “Blessed be the Lord. Because He has heard the voice of my supplication!” Thank God for the “risers” on the staircase.
Now the riser can be short at times, easy to manage, but it can be tall/steep/giant-like at times and it takes some work; it takes some effort; it presents an obstacle to be overcome; it sometimes, regretfully, makes us go down and discontinue our rising up. Invariably at times, “I don’t think I can do it” steps in.” “I will never make it” crashes through the gates of our minds, visions become value-less and worthwhile dreams get dropped when we come to those not so low risers on the staircase.
We know we are right about it! But think about it What would have happened if Noah had stopped building the ark? What would have happened if the children at the Red Sea responded, “No way?” “This Moses dude has gone mad?” What would have happened if David had listened to Goliath’s taunts? What would have happened if Christ had denounced Himself because of the mockery with their bad motives?
“Bring it down to earth,” you are thinking? Okay! What would have happened if George Washington Carter had given in to his race, racism, or his real-life tragedies instead of acquiring a fragmentary education while doing whatever work came to hand in order to subsist; to survive? What if he had not supported himself by varied occupations that included general household worker, hotel cook, laundryman, farm laborer, and homesteader? What if he had not, in his late twenties, managed to obtain a high school education while working as a farmhand? What if he had given up when a university refused to admit him because he was black?
Would there be: beverage for ice cream, blackberry punch, evaporated peanut beverage, cherry punch, all-purpose cream, antiseptic soap, baby massage cream, glycerin, shampoo, shaving cream, toilet soap, thirty different Dyes for cloth, paints and stains, dyes for leather, wood stains, molasses feed, bar candy, buttermilk, butter from peanut milk, chocolate coated peanuts, cheese pimento, chili sauce, coco, chop suey sauce, dry coffee, Instant Coffee, mayonnaise, peanut tofu sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, laxatives, emulsified oils for venereal disease, many other medicines, axel grease, or diesel fuel? What if George Washington Carver had given up climbing the staircase as he looked at the “risers” in his life? Selah! Pause! Think about it! Make up your mind as you climb the staircase that you will not give up, regardless of how high the risers may be! Stay committed to the climb my friend! Have a good Friday! Be blessed!
“But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.” (I Chronicles 15:7 NIV)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King