Mountains
One of my favorite places to go is to the Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee. I spent four years there getting my under graduate education and then lived in Maryville (aka Murraville) another two and a half years. I loved being out driving to a store or going somewhere and looking up and seeing the mountains in the distance. There is something so majestic about the mountains. They are beautiful. They are big. They don’t move. I have climbed a mountain. I have driven up the mountain. I’ve ridden a tram up the mountain. I enjoy visiting Stone Mountain here in Georgia. This morning Micah reminded of a most important mountain. Check this out….
1 In the last days
the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and peoples will stream to it.
2 Many nations will come and say,
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.’ (Micah 4:1-2a NIV)
I love the picture of the Lord teaching me on His Mountain. Being on the mountain with the Lord gives me incredible perspective to the valley below. I’d love to live on the mountain, but most of life is lived out in the valley. The mountain is visible from the valley, but sometimes the valley gets dark and the mountain is hard to see even if it’s there. There are times the fog comes in and covers the mountain, but it’s still there. I don’t ever want to get stuck in the valley and miss out on going up to the mountain with the Lord. I need His teaching. I need His instruction. I need His direction for life in the valley.
I remember Abraham worshipping God on the mountain and being willing to surrender his own son but God provided a sacrifice. I remember that Moses met God on the mountain and there received the Ten Commandments. I remember that Jesus often went to the mountain to pray. I want to make frequent visits to the “mountain of the Lord” and hear Him speak into my heart about the direction of my life. I want to continue to learn the ways of the Lord and have the courage to walk in His paths.
Pressing On!
Dwayne