What’s Your Everest? Blind Descent DevotionalSample

Day 3: Commitment

Many times, the worst decision is to make no decision. It’s better to commit and fail then to not try at all. Psalm 37:5 tells us to commit to the Lord and trust in Him. When we fully commit to Him, we release the burden of this world and walk a path He’s created for us under His protection.

Anyone that’s experienced altitude issues can attest to the misery it entails. The human body requires oxygen to function properly. Hiking to higher elevations removes that required component as the air becomes thinner with less oxygen causing AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). AMS symptoms include headache, nausea, shortness of breath, fatigue, lack of appetite, and rapid pulse. If you climb too high, too quickly, then you can run into HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema) or HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema), both of which can be life-threatening. HAPE is where lung capillaries leak fluid into the lungs and HACE is where lung capillaries leak fluid into the brain. The only treatment for life-threatening altitude issues is to descend to lower altitudes to gain more oxygen.

In order to survive higher on the mountain you must properly acclimate. You do this by climbing to higher elevations and then immediately descending back down to lower elevation to rest. This process is commonly referred to as climbing high and sleeping low. Ascending into oxygen-deprived areas forces your body to create more red blood cells, which carry oxygen. It’s a timely process, but if you’re patient and do the work you can be in a position to survive in the death zone on Everest after about a month of acclimatizing. That’s a lot of climbing up to higher camps just to come back down to rest, before heading back up to do it again. This plays into the mental toughness, commitment, and endurance of climbing.

Acclimatization, weather, and factors outside our control require a great deal of commitment and patience. Psalm 121:1-2 paints a picture of the awe we can feel when we experience the solitude and magnificence of the outdoors. If we truly believe that God created the mountains, the earth, and the universe, then there are no limitations of His great power. He watches over us, He protects us, He heals us. Only through Him can we accomplish all that we were put on Earth to experience. 

Discussion Questions:

Describe a time that you were overwhelmed by God’s creation.

Have you ever reached a point where you couldn’t go on without God’s help?