Mountain Top Experiences

It is sixty years ago this week since Everest, the highest mountain in the world was conquered – and a year ago, I blogged about that achievement

But this week I have been thinking about other mountains – there are loads of them mentioned in the Bible [and some ‘Mounts’ are really just hills] but here are just a few that came to my mind

 

1. Ararat (Genesis 8:4) – after the flood, the ark of Noah rested here till the waters went down
2. Moriah (Genesis 22:2) – this is the place Abraham offered Isaac. King Solomon, built his temple there (2 Chronicles 3:1).
3. Sinai where God gave the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20) to Moses.
4. Nebo – where Moses climbed up and looked across to the promised land (Deut 34:1)
5. Carmel- scene of the showdown between Elijah (the prophet of God) and Baal’s prophets (1 Kings 18: 17-46).
6. Mount of Olives - lots of events in Jesus earthly ministry occurred here. Most notably, his ascension (Acts 1:12)

We speak of ‘mountain top experiences’ – special moments when people feel a special closeness to God, when things are so glorious they do not want the moment to end [Like Peter in Mark 9] I have read some writers who seem to expect that to be the norm, that every day should be full of God’s Glory and all around us will be sunshine.

But for most of us, for most of our Christian lives, we are just travelling along the road of life, picking up our cross daily, and following Jesus.

Sometimes that road is easy, sometimes hard, sometimes we feel like we are dragging through the Slough of Despond [like Bunyan’s Pilgrim] or walking sadly through the Valley of The Shadows [like David in Ps 23]

What matters is that we know that whether we are ’up’ or ‘down’, we can be confident that nothing can separate us from God’s love [Romans 8;38] – and He is with us in the rough bits as well as the good bits [Isaiah 43]

Whatever road you are walking at the moment [and I know that some of my followers are going along difficult paths right now, whilst others are walking in sunshine] I pray that you may know God’s presence with you today and your Sunday will be a time of encouragement and blessing, and you will be given new strength to face the week ahead.