Mountain Faith

I love the mountains. Beautiful. Peaceful. Serene.

We have some friends that have a cabin in New Mexico close to the beginning of the Pecos River. The river runs in front of the cabin, and as one sits on the porch that extends along the front of the cabin, he can hear the water flowing. Crackling. Splashing. Refreshing.

Spending time gazing across the river to the expansive meadow of wild flowers across the way proves the beauty of God and His creation.

I remember sitting on the porch, gazing at the beauty that surrounded me, and praying and singing to God. It was a great experience.

As a teenager, I attended Pine Springs Summer Camp in New Mexico, just south of Cloudcroft. The camp is situated in a valley, and God’s beauty again resonates all around. Spending time there in praise and prayer also offered many great experiences.

They were “Mountain Top Highs”. You know, when you reached a point where you don’t feel you can get any closer to God. That your faith will never waiver. That your heart will always be this full.

Elijah understood what I am talking about. He had to. He had one of the ultimate mountain top experiences when he went against the prophets of Baal and Asherah. They couldn’t get their god to touch the altar, but Elijah’s God – our God – not only touched it – He devoured it. He burned not just the offering, but the rocks and the wood. Oh, and the gallons of water that had been poured upon said altar. (I Kings 18)

Can you imagine that mountain top high? The only problem is, the laws of physics tell us that whatever goes up must come down. And, Elijah suffered the same.

He was being hunted, so he retreated to the mountain. He was feeling sorry for himself because of his tribulations. He ran away from his responsibilities. He wasn’t humbling himself before God.

We do the same. We come off this high faith when we think nothing could touch us. We feel so close to God that we could almost fly. And then, we forget that it was because we humbled ourselves in His presence that we were able to get so close in the first place. We turn the focus of our attention from God to the person seeking after Him.

I believe our problem lies not in what we are looking for to help uphold our faith, but more in the quantity. We want the big sign. The total cure from disease. The instant gratification. The wide meadow full of beautiful wild flowers. However, as Elijah found out, sometimes, God offers us not a visible sign of his presence and power, but a gentle whisper.

Whether your gentle whisper comes from sitting on the front porch of a cabin in the woods or while you’re sitting in your car, I hope you listen. Maybe that moment of faith does come in a big package. But whatever the case, perhaps it is not the mountain top experience that dissipates, but it is us who runs down the mountain. We want the dramatic. The river running through the meadow. The church camp experience. The big sign.

But perhaps instead of searching all of the time for that mountain top experience, we sat down at the feet of God and allowed him to provide. His presence and power never move. And if we would humble ourselves enough to see that. To know that. To believe and understand that. Then perhaps our faith would always feel like it was as high as a mountain because each day we would be full of God’s power and presence.

Heavenly Father, please help us to humble ourselves in your presence each day. Every day. All day. Draw us into your presence and help us to run to your mountain instead of down it so that we may be engulfed in your power and presence. Amen.

Joey Roberts
Stephenville, Texas