Now we can see that You know all things and that You do not even need to have anyone ask You questions. This makes us believe that You came from God.�? John 16:30

Floyd Ray Gage March 15, 2008

This is what is known as an “aha moment.�?The disciples understood or at least thought they understood what Jesus was saying. This made them very happy. In fact, they were elated. They felt that they now understood Who Jesus was and all that He was about. This increased their faith and made them feel that their faith was limitless.

We have all been there, haven’t we? We have had those moments when we felt that everything was possible and that we understood the heart and mind of God. These are truly exciting times and mountaintop experiences. They are good and we need to enjoy them. There are just a few things we need to realize when they come.

Circumstances make it so that we can’t live in these moments forever. There are going to be times that we don’t understand and that we are in the longest and darkest valley that we have ever seen. There are going to be times when we can’t seem to find the heart and mind of God.

I don’t say this to depress anyone. I say this to help us prepare. The disciples didn’t use their mountaintop experience to prepare them for the coming valley. They would go into despair and distress in only a short while because their circumstances were about to change drastically. They would forget this moment of revelation and understanding.

That is what we tend to do. We tend to enjoy the moment of revelation and joy and then when tough times come, we go headlong into that moment without anchoring ourselves to the mountaintop of our spiritual experience.

If the disciples had remembered this moment, it would have helped them as they trembled with fear in the upper room waiting for the soldiers to come and take them away after the crucifixion of Christ. It would have bolstered their faith when they didn’t understand why their Messiah had to die. They could have held on to this moment of understanding and it would have gotten them through the lean time.

We are not different, though. We have spiritual amnesia when it comes to difficult times. We forget all of the times that God has seen us through and blessed us despite the circumstances. We forget all of His tender mercies and His love. We become lost in our haze of regret and pity and we totally blank out the blessings.

This is human nature, but we are not only of a nature that is natural anymore. We have a spiritual nature and we need to tap into it. Jesus bolstered Himself for what was coming by remembering why He had come. I am sure He remembered the times in heaven with the Father. I am sure He remembered the times when He had reached someone with the truth and their eternity had been changed forever. Jesus knew to draw on the mountain in order to get through the valley.

We need to learn this lesson. Paul learned it and said that he had fought the good fight and had been true to the faith soon before he died. Peter finally learned it when he exclaimed in his letters that he had seen Christ and understood Who He was. If we don’t learn this lesson, our life is going to be far less and our faith much smaller than they should be.

When we forget God and His mercy during difficult times, we cut ourselves off from our greatest resource. We place ourselves in the desert of self-pity and discouragement and forget to draw on the oasis of remembrance and grace. Don’t forget!