Just Over the Hill

Shannon Reece

No, this title does not refer to my age! Although, after this first week of landscaping it may describe how I feel. "Just over the hill" was a phrase Piper used several times in a sermon entitled, "Happy in Hope, Patient in Pain, Constant in Prayer." The text for the sermon was Romans 12:12 which is worded almost the same - "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." I have meditated on that little verse for a week now and I am definitely the richer for it. Paul says in Ephesians 1:18 - "having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you,.." Paul wanted us to know the the fullness of the hope to which we've been called. Many of us can testify that we've had glimpses of it and it has been life-altering. As Piper commented that we may think we know, but we don't really know what waits for us - the hope to which we've been called.

Hope is the anticipation of what's to come. Paul says again in Romans 8:25 - "if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." That's the way I want to be! I want to wait with patience and joy for what's just over the hill. Don't you? Think about what awesome assurance it is to know that the troubles of this life (as agonizing and terrible as they may be) are only for a breath of time... and then it's on to Christ and eternal glory. Look at what Randy Alcorn writes about Edward's quotes on the subject of Heaven:

"How soon do earthly lovers come to an end of their discoveries of each other's beauty; how soon do they see all there is to be seen! But in Heaven there is an eternal progress with new beauties always being discovered... Happiness of Heaven is progressive and has various periods in which it has a new and glorious advancement and consists very much in beholding the manifestations that God makes of himself in the work of redemption." Edwards contended that we will continually become happier in Heaven in "a never-ending, ever-increasing discovery of more and more of God's glory with greater and greater joy in Him." He said there will never be a time when there is "no more glory for the redeemed to discover and enjoy." Amen!

Alcorn also made this observation, "There's so much to discover in this universe, but we have so little time and opportunity to do it. The list of books I haven't read, music I've never heard, and places I've never been is unending. There's much, much more to know. I look forward to discovering new things in Heaven - forever. At the end of each day I'll have the same amount of time left as I did the day before. The things I didn't get to - things I didn't learn, people I didn't see - I can still learn, see, or do the next day. Places won't crumble, people won't die, and neither will I.

That puts my soul at rest. Our greatest pleasures are just beyond these shores in the radiant face of our Lord Jesus Christ and in His Kingdom. Can we even imagine a never-ending train of pleasure-packed days? Do we hope for them with joy? Do we patiently endure pain and hardship because we know infinite glory waits for us? Oh how we need the Power of God to enable us to postpone with contentment and joy the pathetic little pleasures of the here and now for the ultimate pleasure in Christ that's just over the hill.