The Mountain of God

Daily Reflection: Micah 4:1 - 12/4/2023

In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. — Micah 4:1 

For all of human history, people have ascended mountains. The terrifying grandeur of these peaks beckons one to find transcendence through the turmoil of the climb. If you listen to climbers today, you will hear reflections that could make one believe they’ve had a worship experience.

In the Bible, that’s precisely what climbing mountains was about. The peaks were understood as places of worship, where one would go to meet and worship the gods. Thus, we read about the “high places,” where idolatrous sacrifices were offered to gods of sex, power, prosperity, and more.

Even for the people of God, mountains were places for meeting the one true God. It was on a mountain that God called Moses and where God gave him the Ten Commandments. Elijah encountered God on the mountain. In the New Testament, Jesus was transfigured on a mountain.

Mountains still hold special significance in our world, but not specific religious significance. Few people take pilgrimages up a mountain to sacrifice to their god; instead, we have found other high places to which we ascend and worship as ultimate.

Our naturalistic culture with its flat spirituality will not describe what we do as worship. We may say it’s just practicality, or plain smarts, or “just something that’s really important to me.” But whenever we ascribe worth to something and hope to receive something in return, we are worshiping.

Thus, many people today worship when they’re at the mall and on Amazon, when vying for that promotion, or devoting themselves to peak physical fitness. Those are the high places upon which we now ascend to discover our worth.

The open secret is that none of these ancient or modern high places could actually deliver. Instead of delivering, they demanded more from us! As David Foster Wallace said:

“If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure, and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you.”

So, the history of humanity has been one of immense suffering because of what we worship, because of the mountains we ascend searching for meaning.

This would not do for a God who loves the world dearly! The prophet said, “In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills…”

What does this mean? It means God desired to make himself known as above all other gods (mountains) as the one worthy of our worship. This doesn’t mean an endless church service, singing slow Christian songs, but a proper reordering of life.

When we worship God as ultimate, everything else in our lives is properly ordered. We see them as things meant to be engaged with to the glory of God, not things to be worshipped. So, the apostle Paul suggests, “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).

When we ascend the high mountain to worship the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we begin to receive the validation we sorely desire, we begin to experience the transcendence our souls long for, we begin to know true beauty, love, and acceptance.

What is this mountain, where will it be, how can we get there?

Easy, at its peak there is a cross. Find the man who hung there, and he will lead you to the heart of God where you will find everything you seek.

Heavenly Father, Be exalted above all that is false and shaky in our lives. Reveal yourself to us with greater clarity, through your Son, who is the way, the truth, and the life, that we follow him further up and further into your Kingdom. Where we will find that you are everything we’ve ever desired.

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