A Mountaintop Experience - The One Year Book of Psalms

Psalm 42:6B-11

6Now I am deeply discouraged,

but I will remember your kindness—

from Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan,

from the land of Mount Mizar.

7I hear the tumult of the raging seas

as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.

8Through each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me,

and through each night I sing his songs,

praying to God who gives me life.

9“O God my rock,” I cry,

“Why have you forsaken me?

Why must I wander in darkness,

oppressed by my enemies?”

10Their taunts pierce me like a fatal wound.

They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”

11Why am I discouraged?

Why so sad?

I will put my hope in God!

I will praise him again—

my Savior and my God!

“Why go to church? I can worship God on a mountain or by the sea.” You may have heard those words from “freelance” Christians, who want to do their own thing apart from other believers. The problem is, they’re half right. You can worship God on a mountain or by the sea, as Psalm 42 shows us, but there’s more to it than this.

You can picture the psalmist on a Galilean hillside, with Mount Hermon towering in the north and the sea churning below him. With those visual aids, he understands God’s kindness and power in a new way. Reviewing the taunts of his enemies—“Where is this God of yours?”—perhaps he needs the reassurance of God’s presence in nature. God is here. The mountains and seas declare his glory. The seasons teach us about how God works. The beauty of God’s creation refreshes our soul.

But if you stay on the mountain, you may begin to worship the mountain rather than the God who made it. The mountain will not lift you above your troubles. The sea will not sweep them away. Only God can deliver you. So let the wonders of creation bring you back to God, and put your trust and hope in him. And then, by all means, join the rest of us—needy people who are sometimes struggling, sometimes doubtful, sometimes depressed—join us in singing praises to our God, who refreshes our soul.

Why restless, why cast down, my soul?

Trust God, and thou shalt sing

His praise again, and find him still

Thy health’s eternal spring.

NAHUM TATE AND NICHOLAS BRADY

A Word on Words

Mount Mizar (which literally means “little”) was apparently a small mountain near Mount Hermon, although some scholars think it is a reference to Mount Zion.

Notable Quotable

“Sorrow is always a sense of lack. The ultimate sorrow is the sense of the lack of God.”

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN