Getting Over the Hump

Mondays are intimidating. Very few people are anxious to get back in the “daily grind” on Monday. When Monday is behind you, Tuesday rears its ugly head with the promise of four more days to work before you experience any relief. Even when Tuesday is over, the worker knows there are more days left than have been completed.

But then comes Wednesday. When Wednesday is over, the worker begins to feel a little happier about the future. Most of the work is in the past with only two more days before the work week ends. Wednesday is special as it marks the halfway point, the top of the mountain you’ve been climbing up, and now you can start easing down. It’s the “hump” day, a welcome milestone in every week. Everything seems easier on the downside.

I have discovered that there is a hump in my spiritual life as well. Honestly, for years I didn’t realize this, but I now know that it’s real. I never thought of myself as advancing toward it, or getting over it, or even being over it after first crossing it, which is probably why I never realized there was a hump to begin with. My guess is that the same may be true of you and I invite you to think about this “hump” thing with me for a few minutes.

As I have mentioned before in Trying to Walk articles, I was born into a God-fearing, Bible-believing, faith-practicing family of the most serious order, a fact which has been a tremendous blessing of which I am eternally most grateful. I truly believe that this blessing will result in my having less excuse for not performing for God at the highest levels in keeping with Luke 12:48, “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”

So I was raised in a devout Christian home and educated in the Bible in a Christian college, another blessing I cherish and of which I hope to be worthy. I graduated from college with a degree in Bible and I have remained active in church work from that time to this and claim that as a blessing as well.

Somewhere in that time I managed to get “over the hump.” I have never been rebellious or even seriously doubting regarding my upbringing. I do believe in and practice what I call “healthy skepticism.” There are those who hear a Biblical teaching and set about to prove it false. That may be due to skepticism, but it certainly is not healthy because it is not honest.

The Bereans practiced healthy skepticism in that “they searched the Scriptures daily [to find out] whether these things were so,”Acts 17:11. They heard Paul, an apostle (!), preach and they said, in essence – we heard what you said, but we’re not believing it just because you said it. We’re checking what has been written in our scriptures, and when we find that your words are in keeping with those words, then we will accept your teaching. – They searched, and they found out Paul was speaking truth and they believed and followed his teaching.  That is healthy skepticism, the major ingredient of which is honesty.  It will also expose false teaching

Led by healthy skepticism I forced myself to answer some questions. Did I really believe there was a God? Common sense makes any answer other than ‘yes’ ridiculous. Did I believe the Bible was His word? It makes no sense to pretend that the God who created the universe would not be able to deliver His will to us the way he wanted it to be. Could it be discerned whether a particular church was following God’s word or not? Simply read and compare. Of course it can be determined. There were other questions, but these are major.

I read explanations such as the Israelites fled Egypt by way of the “Sea of Reeds” which was a very shallow expansion of water. They crossed the Jordan at a point where frequent earthquakes had dammed the water when they arrived. There are many ridiculous explanations like these for things we read in the Bible. People have to make these up because they have never gotten “over the hump.”

You will know you are over the hump when you don’t need some silly attempt to explain God’s miracles, or God Himself, or anything that God says or does in the Bible. You don’t doubt the Bible being God’s word. You don’t doubt what the Bible tells us about history or salvation or anything because you believe it came from God. You have destroyed all doubt.

Once you accept that this universe had to have been created by God (read some of the early Trying to Walk articles) then everything else should fall into place. If there is a God who can speak and the universe comes into existence, then the real questions become: why is anything else difficult to accept about God? Why do people do such nonsensical things as come up with convoluted explanations for how the Israelites got away from Egypt, or doubt that the Bible is God’s unerring word, as though God just doesn’t have what it takes to get it to us the way He wants it.

When these are the kinds of questions that befuddle you, you have gotten over the hump. I can’t put my finger on the exact moment, but I know I’ve gotten over that hump, the hump of doubt and confusion about who God is and what He can do, and actually some things He won’t do as well.

I’m always leary of making a statement like the one I’m about to make, because I never forget the words written by Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:12, “Let Him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” I don’t want to be that guy. Still, having gotten over the hump, I don’t think that any thing can make me doubt or cause me to give up on my faith, but to be on the safe side I’ll add, so long as I maintain my present outlook.

“Over the hump” means achieving the kind of faith that not only believes in the existence of God and His omniscience, omnipotence and all the rest.  It also trusts in God to be able to do the things necessary to back up all of the claims and promises made in the Bible (and to be able to deliver the Bible to us as He wants it to be.) This faith, and this trust, is unequivocal.

That means that even though you may not be able to deliver a sermon like Stephen delivered to the hostile Jews in Acts 7, you would proudly stand beside him as he spoke and take the stones that were aimed at him. This would be hard, but if you’re over the hump what else would you do? As Peter said in John 6:68-69,“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter faltered after speaking these words before he got over the hump, but these are well spoken words.

“Getting over the hump” may be a different process for each individual, but the Bible indicates that we’re going to have to get over our individual humps to truly be pleasing to God.“He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him,” Hebrews 11:6. Work diligently to get over the hump. It’s easier to do the Lord’s work and resist the devil on this down side of the mountain.