Recently, my family and I went on a trip out west. We love to see the beauty of the mountains. The first day, we visited Rocky Mountain National Park. We all went on the Emerald Lake Trail, which was a 3.6-mile hike with over 600 feet of elevation gain. As soon as this hike was over, we drove to the Alpine Ridge Trail. My son and I ran the trail, which is .3 miles long and 250 feet straight up. We did this in shorts and a light jacket because it was snowing. Through the wind, snow, and high altitude, these Florida-raised boys--a 40-year-old and an 8-year-old--ran to the top of the trail and back down. At the top of the mountain trail, though, we stopped to pray and thanked God for allowing us the strength and determination to complete the task. Successfully running the Alpine Ridge Trail was the goal we had set at the beginning of the summer. We ran stadium bleachers and every hill we could find to prepare for this task. And even with unexpected adversities, we accomplished our goal.
Much like enduring the necessary preparation to reach the top of the trail, our Christian faith demands us to rigorously train as we attempt to follow Christ through the example of others (1 Cor. 11:1). As Paul tells us, this training requires us to “study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). Although we generally view Christ-likeness primarily as mortifying sin, wisdom, kindness, righteous anger, and giving, one of the overlooked attributes of Christ can be found in John: rest.
The Sabbath is a great time to find rest. After all, "the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27). I want to propose to you another place to find rest: the mountains, although far from Florida and requiring labor and sweat to conquer, are also a perfect place to slow down and allow God to, as the hymn Nearer, Still Nearer says, "grant me the cleansing Thy blood doth impart."
Jesus resorted to the mountains several times. We see Him stay in the "wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him" (Mark 1:13). This wilderness Jesus went into either had mountains or was a mountainous region. In this wilderness, Jesus was ministered to by the angels. He found strength there as He was tempted for 40 days but never once fell to the temptations.
The mountains are a great place to unwind, to teach your children, and to draw closer to your spouse and God. In John 6:3, "Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples" right before He fed the crowd of 5,000 men, plus women and children. Another time, "when Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone” (John 6:15). We see Jesus take His disciples to the mountain, probably to teach and pray, before He labored. After He labored, Jesus went back to the mountains alone for protection from those who wanted to take Him by force, but also to rest and pray.
Jesus was not the only one to find safe harbor in the mountains. Throughout the Old Testament, from Abraham to Zechariah, we see mountains as places men of God would go to talk to the Lord. Additionally, the prophets said we would see God standing on His triumphant return, when "his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west” (Zechariah 14:4).
So where is YOUR mountain? We who live in Florida do not have mountains close by, and some may be unable to travel even as far as Mount Cheaha in Alabama. Some of you may be reading this in the Great Plains where the nearest mountain is a couple days' travel. Although I highly suggest you travel to the mountains, as this is where I have always felt closest to God, I suggest to you that “your mountain” can simply be a safe, quiet, secluded place in the forest, at the beach, even by a swamp, or along a riverbank. I suggest that when God created Adam and Eve in the garden, He was communicating that He intended man to spend time in nature. The more we find our way into God’s creation, the closer we get to God while the angels minister to us as they did Jesus in Mark 1:13. In nature, in your "mountain" as you draw “Nearer My God to Thee” and as the angels minister to you, rest assured that if you approach such a place, in a mind to know more of God, that through the wind rustling the trees, the birds chirping, or the waves rolling in, your "ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying 'This is the way, walk ye in it'” (Isaiah 30:21).
The above article was written by Jonathan Thornton. He is a military veteran and member of NorthStone Baptist Church in Pensacola, FL. To offer him your feedback, comment below or email us at strengthforlife461@gmail.com.
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Pastor Johnson's series in John continues by joining the biblical record of the Pharisees investigating the forerunner of Christ, John the Baptist.
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