God and the Mountains, Part 2

Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. – Psalm 90:2

Previously, I presented four observations about mountains that simultaneously taught me about God. These thoughts came to me from the Lord as I meditated upon what I saw while looking at the numerous mountains out in the Western United States during our recent vacation. In this article I want to share several other thoughts the Lord brought to me.

A fifth observation I made about mountains is that they appear one way from a distance, but can look entirely different up close. For example, some mountains in Nevada and California lacked trees or rocky outcroppings. They simply look smooth from a distance; like you could easily drive all over them on an ATV or you could simply roll down them for hundreds of yards. However, once closer you see there is dry brush and briers and rock upon them. From this closer viewpoint it becomes clear they would not be very enjoyable to traverse and impossible to roll down. Or, consider also from a distance how a mountain looks and then how suddenly we are humbled by its size the closer we get. From a distance it looks like you could climb it easily. Then as you get closer you realize what a climb it would be. Various times I would try to zoom in on the video camera to give proper perspective on the mountain. As I zoomed out from a hiker until they become a dot on the screen it then became apparent how large that mountain they were climbing really was. So also the closer we get to the Lord the more we realize how great and awesome he is and how small we are. This perspective makes us ask as David did in Psalm 8:4 “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him.”

Now a revelation closely related to the fifth one is that mountains often contain hidden treasures. Obviously, both of these lessons pertain to our limited perception of mountains. From a distance we can only see a mountain. Little do we know that as you hike the trails of that mountain you can find gorgeous mountain lakes, cool streams, scenic waterfalls, meadows of wildflowers, living creatures both large and small and much more. This is what we learned as we hiked to such spots in the Yosemite, Zion National Park, and up behind Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe. New and glorious surprises waited ahead. While others may have discovered these beautiful details of the mountain they remained a mystery to us until we made the effort to get to know that mountain better. Both of these observations reminded me that knowing God is a never-ending discovery process. Because God is infinite and mysterious and because I am finite and prone to misjudgment I must be careful about the definitive conclusions I make about God. I cannot craft Him in my image or seek to know Him from afar. I must anchor my understanding of Him to his own infallible Word. I get closer to seeing Him aright as I draw near Him in the Scriptures. And the glorious wonder is that as I pursue knowing Him more I find that there are delightful aspects of His nature and character that I have yet to fully appreciate. There always seems to be more of Him to know. His ways are higher than my ways and His thoughts are higher than my thoughts (Isaiah 55:9).

A seventh observation about mountains is that they seem to somehow beckon people to hike them, explore them, or strive for their summit. During our trip we heard of how climbers scale the face of El Capitan in Yosemite. While hiking ourselves we saw climbers farther up ascending to the top of a waterfall or to a snow-capped peak. During National Park movies we heard incredible stories of how people tried to summit peaks like those in the Tetons for years before they finally succeeded. I have to admit that as I stood there looking up at those mountain peaks there was some visceral yearning within me to climb. I too wanted to summit those peaks. So also I think that the Lord beckons us to know Him better. He invites us to draw into deeper experiences with Him so we might find greater joy in Him. Paul expresses this quest for greater knowledge of Christ quite powerfully when he writes in Philippians 3:10, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection of the dead.”

I hope that you and I will seek to know the Lord more, whether or not we find ourselves beckoned to climb a mountain. I hope like me you will thank God for the mountains he birthed and you will find them directing your thoughts toward the Creator. They are the perfect habitat for many unique creatures. They provide nourishment to lowlands below with their streams and melting snow. They fill us little humans with wonder and excitement as we view them or traverse them. And may they teach us endless lessons about their Maker and our Lord.

"Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead, He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?" - Augustine of Hippo

Hearing His voice in the Mountains!

Scott Markley

Learning of God in the Moutains, Part 1

Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. – Psalm 36:5-6

As most of you know I just returned from a family vacation out in the western United States. We went to places we had never been before—places we’d only heard of or seen pictures of. It was a delightful family time in many ways and truly a “once-in-a-lifetime” trip. Before going I prayed and asked God to teach me more about Him through our travels. Today I was meditating simply on what I learned of God through the many mountains we saw on our excursion.

One of the first things we noticed upon arriving in California was the mountains. We traveled in seven different states on this trip and every single one of them had mountains. Some were majestic and snow-capped, while some looked barren and dry. Nevertheless, they were there—mountains––holding lessons about the Creator for those willing to observe and learn.

Let me share some of the truths about God that mountains made me contemplate. There are so many I will do so in two parts. In this article, let me simply share four insights.

First, mountains, obviously, communicate the idea of strength, stability, security, and permanence. That was the why Jesus made the astounding statement about having a faith that could move mountains (Matt. 17:20) and why Paul also referred to such an unimaginable feat (1 Cor. 13:2). Mountains seem fixed and immovable. In this, they also remind me of our God who is mighty and strong.

Second, mountains can stun you with their rugged beauty and majestic peaks. One can get mesmerized by their alluring beauty and gaze at them all afternoon from varying angles. This beauty is why they are photographed and painted and sketched generation after generation. Likewise David speaks of gazing upon “the beauty of the Lord” in Psalm 27:4.

Third, it is fascinating to me how mountains beautify all that is around them. Part of what makes Lake Tahoe so spectacular is the mountain range surrounding much of the gorgeous lake. Yes, the lake and forest of pines have beauty in themselves, but their beauty is enhanced. Or consider many of the valleys that look so lush and lovely. Imagine them without mountains around them. They would just be plains or flat terrain. Part of their beauty comes from the fact that they are nestled in between hillsides or mountain peaks. So when the Scriptures speak of the beauty of Zion I think the beauty referred to comes through a belief that this holy city is a unique habitation of the Lord (Ps. 48:1-2). It was His Divine presence there, in the mind of the ancients, which made Jerusalem so glorious. So also as we today associate with God, as we “put our hope in God” are we made more beautiful (1 Peter 3:5).

Fourth, mountains provide us an unparalleled vantage point that puts other things into perspective. As we ascended to the peaks over Sun Valley, Idaho the towns below diminished in our sight. The wealthy estates seemed small and puny from the mountain top. From the top of Morro Rock in Sequoia National Park we could see snowy peaks and peer into the San Joaquin Valley. There is no doubt God’s perspective on the affairs of this world and my own life is different than the perspective I usually live with. The wonder of knowing the Creator God is that as I see life through God’s eyes pride and fears diminish and that which seems all-important is reduced in significance.

Well, there is a taste of what God can teach us through mountains. But there are even more lessons to extract from the God-ward orientation mountains can give us. I will share more of them in my next article. For now, may we live in light of these truths—valuing that which is truly lasting from God’s perspective, enhancing our own beauty through fellowship with the glorious Lord, and fixing our hope in our great God.