it shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it, [isaiah 2:2]
this morning as i sit in the presence of God, i don’t think it is a coincidence that i am on vacation looking out the window of an airbnb facing pike’s peak–the tallest mountain in the southern front range of the rockies; it towers 14,115 feet. as i ponder the sheer immensity of it, i am more aware of my smallness and insignificance.
witnessing the grandeur of creation of the Lord in these mountains is just a taste of the majesty we will see when we are before the God who made them. when we come to the presence of the Lord, we can’t but help to feel small, full of fear. the reason why mountains exist is to show us what God is like–as isaiah contemplates the character of God, he sees a mountain–one that would dwarf pike’s peak.
the psalmist tells us what our reaction should be:
oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
for the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
in his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also. [psalm 95:1-5]
yes, terror, fear–but also, because our God is good and for us, joy!
as john piper says about another of God’s creations:
“the really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness. standing on the edge of the grand canyon and contemplating your own greatness is pathological. at such moments we are made for a magnificent joy that comes from outside ourselves.”
take a moment and be self-forgetful. be reverent, fearful, but overjoyed in the living God who made the heights and the depths, yet he loves us so much he sent his Son, Jesus to redeem us–what a great God!
~ ce