When I signed up to hike the iconic Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB), I thought I was going on a pleasure trail through quaint villages sampling wine and cheese.

It turned out to be a full-on test of physical and mental endurance. For eight hours each day over six days, I trudged through more than 100km over several high mountain passes amid rapidly changing mountain weather. 

The promise of panoramic views kept me going. But on most days, it was sheer determination to finish the trail that drove me on.

I never entertained the option of quitting, not even when my legs and lungs throbbed with the prolonged ache of another ascent, my feet burst with blisters and my heart dropped with the daunting sight of yet another mountain pass to traverse. 

With the benefit of hindsight and a good foot soak at the spa, I can say the gain was worth every step of pain.

There are views one can only see at the top, and they often took my breath away. But the true stunner was seeing God in the thousands of steps in the wilderness, free from every distraction. 

Every difficult step up the mountain is an opportunity to encounter God by leaning on Him for strength, worshipping in the beauty of creation and hearing from Him in the steady rhythm of putting one foot in front of the other. Photo by author.

I was hooked after that.

Every mountain hike satisfied my yearning to worship God and abide undisturbed in His presence, and to draw from Him the strength to navigate the ups and downs of life.

Perhaps, that same spirit propelled the Jewish pilgrims in ancient Israel to scale the heights of Mount Zion.

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. (Psalm 84:5-7)

Psalm 84 is a cry of longing to be near God and a reminder to the pilgrims of His faithfulness throughout the demanding journey.

This “pearl of psalms”, as Charles Spurgeon calls it, promises one level of strength to the next for the pilgrims as they persevere until they see God. They will level up as they draw increasingly closer to Him. 

God’s heart is for us to level up. It is His desire and purpose for all pilgrims on the same journey of faith. 

He declares in the Old Testament that “the latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former.” (Haggai 2:9 ESV)

In the New Testament, God reveals the latter glory in Christ Jesus, whose image He transforms us into “with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

The same God who sent the ultimate disruptor in Christ Jesus made no provision for status quo in His plan for creation. 

Staying put was never an option. Just as plants flourish when watered and wilt when not, our faith thrives when forged in the fire and dies when it languishes.

For some of us, levelling up could mean stepping up and doing more. But for others, it could mean stepping down and sitting at the feet of Jesus as He refreshes and prepares us for new things.

Ultimately, levelling up simply means growing in faith that leads to fearless obedience. “Do whatever he tells you,” the mother of Jesus says (John 2:5).

Defying gravity 

Going to the next level requires the gravity-defying feat of denying self and popular opinion. It takes work. Hard work.

Psalm 84 gives us five keys to resist the pull of comfort and to rise from glory to glory in our pilgrimage until the end.

1. Find strength in God

Plodding uphill by our own strength in a life of hard knocks can make us faint, especially when breakthrough seems elusive.

But being propelled by the power of the Almighty God feels a lot like flying over the fray or, as Isaiah puts it, soaring on “wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:32).

Instead of relying on ourselves to navigate life, we can lean on God. His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

2. Set our hearts on pilgrimage

To set is to put in a proper place, but it also means to solidify into a fixed state. We are called to fix our hearts on God in our journey of faith, without wavering.

Other versions call the pilgrimage “the highways to Zion”, a path also taken by the “cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) that has gone before us.

Moses cautioned the Israelites: “Do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in obedience to all that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper.” (Deuteronomy 5:32-33). To prosper is to thrive, to level up. 

No matter our circumstances, we can commit to trusting in God and keeping our eyes on Jesus on our way to our eternal home.

A community is essential to cheer us on, celebrate with us and watch over us on the uphill journey to Mount Zion. Photo by author.

3. Travel in a community

There were moments on the TMB when I thought I would cave – whipped by icy winds on high mountain passes, groaning under the heat at the foot of the mountains, sliding through terrifying slopes on icy ground, and battling mental and physical exhaustion.

But being in the company of other more experienced climbers kept us going. They slowed down for us, shared tips with us, encouraged us and cracked foreign jokes we did not always understand.

When I started my Christian journey, I too had thought it would a pleasure trail strewn with blessings, but it turned out to be a fight against hell.

Going on a spiritual journey for the rest of our lives calls for some serious climbs. We need community to cheer us on when we are flagging, celebrate with us when we get to the peak and look out for us when we stumble.

“As they pass through … they go …” Pilgrims do not travel solo.

4. Learn to sing in the rain

Life does not always consist of mountaintops. “Those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration,” Oswald Chambers pointed out.

“We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength.”

A journey to the top will always be followed by a bottom – that is the law of nature. But when the pilgrims passed through the Valley of Weeping, they made it a place of refreshing.

As we navigate sorrow in the valley, we too can learn to “make it a place of springs” as God faithfully rains down His Spirit. 

5. Keep walking

My mother always says to me in Hokkien to 慢慢走 – walk slowly – whenever I leave her. I used to dismiss it as nagging, but I finally caught her heart.

In those simple words, she was admonishing me to be watchful, to walk carefully, to be mindful of planting my feet firmly on the ground so I can get to the end point without tripping or falling.

In verse 7, the word “go” in Hebrew is “yalak” – to go or to walk, often conveying a sense of purpose or direction, much like my mother’s wise advice.

As pilgrims in a world filled with pitfalls, planting our feet firmly on the ground is essential for survival, especially on a treacherous climb. As the pilgrims keep yalak-ing, they grow stronger with each step until they reach their destination. 

Come up higher

I have found that as I keep climbing, I gain the advantage of seeing from a higher plane.

I remember taking off on a flight one stormy morning where all I could see was rain lashing the city and bolts of lightning striking the skyscrapers. But as the plane gained altitude, it left the tempest and emerged into blue skies.

There are things we can only see when we “come up” to God’s perspective and see from His vantage point.

In Revelation 4:1, the angel beckoned John to “come up here, and I will show you”. When the apostle accepted the invitation to “come up”, He saw the beauty, glory and power of the King that must have eclipsed the suffering of his hard and lonely exile on Patmos. 

God’s call to us is to level up. His promise to us is renewed strength as we arise. His gift to us is our transformation into the image of Jesus. 

At the end of our pilgrimage, we will then see God in the full measure of Christ in us.

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