Friday, September 2, 2011

When God made the Mountains

I lift my eyes up unto the mountains –

Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

The Maker of heaven and earth.

- Psalm 121:1-2

When God made the mountains, it must’ve been something to behold. When He told the land to rise up here…and here…and here…he must have been enjoying His work.

He formed them and saw that their form was lovely and good and fitting to have come from His hand. “You, point to me,” He told them.


When God made the mountains, we were not with Him. But surely He had us in mind. He took His time and got them just right before placing us here. He set us among them as though we were Adam and Eve, delighted with what He had prepared for us.


When God made the mountains, He cut off the view of the things around the bend. “Don’t worry about what comes next,” He said. When we climb the mountain, we can look to the top, but can see no further. We see the ascent, but no further. We can only look to the sky and trust that the road goes beyond what we can see and that Someone else can look down and know where we’re going.

When God made the mountains, when He stirred them and made them wind together, He had to have known how safe it would feel to lie down at night in their folds, protected by the very earth around us. He made their wrinkles a perpetual embrace as a gift to us from their Maker and ours, who is our constant protection.


When God made the mountains, He did it on purpose. He didn’t put them there to be in the way of something better. God doesn’t make mistakes; the mountains weren’t accidents. They are useful to Him and worth the ages He has spent forming them for such a people as us.


So when God made the mountains, He wanted something to remind us that we are small, that there are things that outlast us. He wanted something to let us know that we are protected and don’t have to worry about what lies beyond. When we are looking around for help, He wanted something to remind us that the place to look for help is up, to Him.


When God made the mountains, He did it that we would wake every new day, surrounded by the splendor of our King and enveloped in His love. They are of His glory and for His glory a gift to us.


When God made the mountains, we were not there to applaud Him for His work. So today, let us listen to the voice He gave them as part of His creation crying out. Let us add our voice to the millions who have gone before in praise of His work. Let us write the next verse in the song of the mountains as we see what God has been saying to us through them from generation to generation, from the Psalmist’s pen until now. And may God help us as we pick up the pen.


I lift my eyes up unto the mountains –

Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

The Maker of heaven and earth.