Mountain Top

The Psalmist asks and answers a simple question in Psalm 121:

I lift up my eyes to the hills—

from where will my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

When we travel, we go ‘up’ to Montgomery or ‘down’ to the coast. The instruction for

this Psalm identifies this as a song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was

located on a mountain in the Judean wilderness. Jerusalem was the holy city for the

Jews. It was the home of God’s Temple, that place where God dwelled among his people.

As such a pilgrim, regardless of the direction they were coming from, always went ‘up’

to Jerusalem to conduct their business. This going ‘up’ in order to draw close to God is

always a remarkable experience.

This past weekend, the youth have been at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina in the Great

Smokey Mountains at M28. We went ‘up’ to the mountain in order to do business with

God. And did we ever!

As a group we experienced true worship, transformational teaching, fun and fellowship

surrounded by God’s majestic creation. We grew in our understanding of what it means

to love God and be loved by God. In essence, we lifted our eyes to the hills and asked

where does our help come from? And we discovered that our help comes from the Lord

who made the very mountains that surrounded us.

Psalm 121 is actually one of 15 Psalms of ascent (120-134). Interestingly, there are no

Psalms of Descent. Going ‘up’ to Jerusalem was a time of expectation, even exhilaration.

Going ‘down’ from Jerusalem was a much more solemn experience.

No one rejoices when they have to leave the mountain and return to the valley of

everyday life. But that is where God does his best work in us and through us. It is in the

valleys that we get to put what we learned on the mountain into practice. It is in the

valley where God reminds us that He loves us, that He has a plan for our lives, and that

He will always walk with us.

The name for the camp comes from Matthew 28:19-20, The Great Commission, where

Jesus told his followers, ‘Go and make disciples of all the nations.’ The mountain is

remarkable. But the real work of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ begins when we ‘go

and make disciples of all the nations’, starting in Ozark.

As the religious festivities in Jerusalem were ending, and pilgrims were preparing to

return to their homes, they would encourage one another with the words, ‘Next year, in

Jerusalem.’ ‘Next year at M28’, let us be found faithful in our mission of making disciples.

Hope to see you on Sunday.

Pastor Marty