I would like to read you two verses of the 125th Psalm, the first two verses. “They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even forever.”
You know, our life is made up of mountains and plains of experience. Man has always been one to choose the path of least resistance, and therefore he has built, worked, fought, lived, and died in the plains of life. I wonder if we cannot look for a little while this morning at the mountains. The Psalmist says, “I will look unto the hills from whence cometh my help.”
After the flood, after that great time of destruction had come upon the earth and all the inhabitants had been destroyed, everything had been changed. After that flood was over and the judgment day had passed, the ark, in which Noah and his family had been protected and kept safely, landed upon a mountain top. Yes, it landed high upon a mountain top, high above any of the destruction on the plains of life.
You know, when Abraham left his country and journeyed forth to that land of promise, he took with him Lot, his nephew, and they traveled together just as long as they could until their herds and their families had increased to such an extent that they felt it was necessary for them to separate.
Abraham gave Lot his choice and Lot chose the plains, the watered plains of Sodom. Abraham was generous in giving Lot his choice for surely he thought the young man would make the wise choice and perhaps Lot felt he was making the wise choice, but since Lot chose the plains Abraham had no other choice but to choose the hills. So Abraham moved up into the hills and there he began his great work of being the father of many nations. We know what the story is. Lot, who had chosen the plains, finally lost all he had while Abraham who had tented back into the hills was saved and remained a friend of God. So much sin sometimes is found in the plains of life but in the mountains, you know, the air is clear, free and pure, and there you can find God.
I remember reading when Elijah had had that great experience with God and fire had come down and consumed the sacrifice on Mount Carmel and prophets of Baal had been destroyed and a great revival had come to Israel afterward his life was threatened and he fled from the face of Jezebel and went up into the mountains, and it was there in the mountains, after he had done this great work for God, that he found the Lord, and the Lord gave him a great revelation and a great call and encouraged his heart. Yes, when he fled from the plains and when he fled from the lowlands of this life and went up into the mountains, he found the Lord there. He took a new lease on life. He took a new hold on God and he was encouraged to go on.
David was a man who was familiar with the mountains for he lived there when he was fleeing and hiding from his master, Saul. To David the mountains meant protection, protection from his master, closeness to God. David knew the value of the mountains. You find many times in the Psalms he talks about the mountains. In fact when I was looking in the Word of God I didn’t find much about the plains, but oh if you look in the concordance you will find there are chapter after chapter of mountains. So much reference is made to mountains but so very little about plains.
When Jesus after dealing with the multitudes and meeting the world and ministering to the needy found a time that He needed some help and some inner strength and something more to face the tasks of life, we find that Jesus went up into the mountains for prayer and to meet His father, to commune with Him.
You know, the mountain experiences speak of hardships and weary climbing, of hard work and of loneliness. You know, there are not many people who want to go that way. Most folks like to live down in the low plains where the people congregate, where there is joy and mirth and laughter and fellowship and all these things, but the mountains speak of loneliness.
Yet it is up there in the mountains sometimes, in the mountain-top experiences of life, where we meet God and where God meets us, where we find His presence to be more precious than gold. In life we have to make choices.
I sometimes feel that we will have to choose between the mountain experiences with all their loneliness and their rugged living and their plain paths. We will have to choose between that and the well favored plains of this life. I believe this morning if we are wise we will go into the mountains.
If we are wise we will flee into these hills and there find our strength and there find our help. Up in those heights above the noise and confusion of this life, in this secret place you are bound to find God. Now I’m not just talking about physical or geographical location-I am sure you understand that-what I am speaking about today is spiritual experiences, and I trust that you will realize that God is calling you up into a higher plane.
Perhaps we’ve lived too long in this lowland of strife. Perhaps God is beckoning us to a higher place in Him where we can lay aside the cares of this life, lay aside the pleasant associations, and the joys and the pleasures down here, and come apart with God and there find strength and new vision, yes and even revelation. God will meet us there and help us to walk with Him.
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