Strong as a Mountain

By

"The people who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion: never shaken, lasting forever. Mountains surround Jerusalem. That’s how the Lord surrounds his people from now until forever from now!"

- Psalm 125: 1-2 CEB -

"'Because you have little faith,' he said. 'I assure you that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Go from here to there,’ and it will go. There will be nothing that you can’t do.'"

- Matthew 17:20 CEB -
I was never someone who wanted to be outdoors when I was younger. I don’t like bugs, heat, dirt, and am always terrified of what creature may be lurking under a bush or behind a tree. That being said, sometime in the last few years this changed drastically. I do not know if it was a random hiking trip, or getting tired of the north Texas landscape, but I suddenly started longing to be in the mountains. I love the weather, the hiking, the smell of the air, being surrounded by trees, and of course... I love the view. I think a big factor in this new desire was that I started seeing and feeling God in nature. Being able to see mountains, valleys, or canyons that thrive beyond human reach amazes me. There is something so strong and eternal about these landmarks. I think that is why I often find myself drawn to bible verses that reference mountains. This verse from Psalms says that just like mountains surround Jerusalem, so God surrounds His people. God is around us like tall mountains surrounding a valley.

I am drawn to images of mountains because of their strength. I know that there have been times in my life where I wish I was stronger. Stronger like I could face anything happening in my life with a smile and a positive attitude un-phased by the events around. I think there are times where we all want to be stronger for ourselves or the people around us. It could be that we want to support a family member or a sick friend, maybe our home life isn’t stable and we are trying to be strong, or that we are in a fight with a friend or significant other and we are tired of feeling hurt. Sometimes we wish that we weren’t feeling the emotions at all, or sometimes we just wish that we could be stronger in light of whatever is happening. The verse from Matthew tells us that just a tiny bit of faith gives us the strength to move mountains. Can you imagine having that strength while going through life? That turning to God, having faith that He is with you, and He has a plan, gives you strength to face the world head on. AND that through whatever we go through, God is surrounding us like tall mountains stretching up into the sky. Having faith in God doesn’t mean that He waves a magic wand and fixes our problems. Having faith in God means trusting Him, and remembering that He is all around us lifting us up and giving us strength.

To Read More: Psalm 125, Matthew 17:1-13, Matthew 14-21

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God's Overlook

By
Image
“Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these ‘nobodies’ to expose the hollow pretensions of the ‘somebodies’? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.” - 1 Corinthians 1:27-30 The Message - As a person of smaller stature, I hate being overlooked. Some might argue that much of who I am is to stand out and be noticed. Yet no matter how great I think I am, the apostle Paul here reminds us that God has preferential consideration for those who are ‘nobody.’ God uses people who are lost, broken, and left out. Even if we are ‘somebody’ and think we have it all together, when we come before God we must recognize that our plans are silly foolishness compared to the work that God has for us. The trick of course is to not hate o
Read more

Light as a Feather

By
Image
 " And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them,  “If anyone would come after me, let him  deny himself and  take up his cross and follow me.  For  whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake  and the gospel's will save it.     For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?     For  what can a man give in return for his soul? " Mark 8:34-37   (ESV) There is a lot packed in these four verses from Mark. What stands out to me most through all this talk about losing or gaining our lives and our souls, is in verse 34 where we are told to “take up your cross”. This is an instruction I have heard many times through the church, but what does it mean to take up your cross? To me, taking up our cross is choosing to be a Christian everyday. The conscious effort to treat people a certain way, to rely on God, and to think about Him in our actions, decisions, and thoughts. It’s choos
Read more

Light in the Darkness

By
Image
 “Arise! Shine! Your light has come; the Lord’s glory has shone upon you. Though darkness covers the earth and gloom the nations, the Lord will shine upon you; God’s glory will appear over you.” - Isaiah 60:1-2 CEB - Darkness is a real thing. Not only as we get to the winter months where it might be dark before you get home from your afternoon or evening activities, but we know darkness on a personal level sometimes.  Darkness is that voice in us that makes us doubt ourselves. Darkness is that feeling that no one else knows what you’re going through. Darkness is cold isolation and separation.  Yet we know through the birth of Christ that God’s light breaks in upon us. The love of God that comes in Jesus finds us just as we are, just where we are. God’s love warms up the coldest isolation and lets us see ourselves for the beautiful creation God made us to be. One of my favorite images is the sharing of the Christ candle we do at our Christmas Eve services.  Something a
Read more