1 I lift up my eyes to the hills--
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalms121:1-2
The mountains are many people's favourite natural vista. There is something compelling about them. Mountains are permanent, solid, immovable, comforting and terrifying all at once.
The ancient people worshipped the mountains. A little later the Greeks and Romans had their gods residing on the mountains. Mountains are significant for many religious people. And so many people misunderstand Ps.121 - They will often look at the Drakensberg and begin to quote Ps.121.
The actual thrust of the Psalm is 'I lift my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? Not from the hills, but from the God who made all of the hills and all of creation.' While creation is a signpost pointing toward God, we should never let it become a benchmark that limits Him. He is always greater than the mountains and the rivers and the stars.
It is subtly easy to worship creation instead of the Creator. We should not be relying on the feelings nature gives us to worship God. Should we feel closer to God in the forest than in the office? Should we be more aware of His beautiful nature when we are looking at a rose than when we are driving home from work?
There is nothing wrong with appreciating nature and praising God for that beauty as long as we don't leave God stuck on top of that mountain or trapped inside that flower. He is more than His creation and can find us wherever we are.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
