“Mountain climbing”
RUMC
1/31/2010
Does anyone remember the first time you saw a mountain? I don’t I was too small. When I was a preschool, my family moved to the foothills between Denver and the Rocky Mountains. We spent many a wonderful weekends just following our noses through the winding twisting creek side roads of the mountains. I remember climbing on boulders, freezing my toes in the icy mountain streams, and picnicking in meadows beside mirror-like mountain lakes. Those are good memories.
I am not sure, however, that as a child I really took in the magnitude of the mountains. As an adult I marvel at their size. A smallish 10,000-foot high mountain might weigh an as much as 1.6 sextillion pound that is a one with 21 zeros after it. I cannot even imagine that, so I figured it out . . . that would be 200 billion pounds for each and every man woman and child in the world. And that’s just a smallish sized mountain.
Are you ready to carry your 2 billion pound share home today?
Think about it. A mountain is basically just a humongous rock that sticks up through the earth’s crust. It has withstood millions and millions of years of wind and rain and earthquakes, and storms and floods and yet it stands. I read that if you took an average mountain and set off the biggest nuclear warhead we have ever made underneath it, the mass of the mountain is so great that it would barely quiver. In addition, almost no heat or radiation would escape.
Most of us marvel at the Rocky Mountains. We cannot even imagine bigger mountains, yet none of the mountains in the Rockies even appears on the list of the world’s 100 tallest mountains. Most of them are in the Himalayan range of Asia.
In light of all of that, we read the 71st Psalm, which says
Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go;
give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
What does it mean to say “God; you are my rock and my fortress?”
It really is not that complicated. In the olden days, when people were looking for safe places to build their villages or castles or forts, they tried to build on top of a big rock, a hill or a mountain. It was the safest spot - hard for enemies to sneak up on, safe from floods. Secure place.
To say God, you are my rock and my fortress, then, means that God is as big as a mountain.
God is as strong as a mountain.
God is as solid as a mountain.
God is as permanent as a mountain.
God is as reliable as a mountain
God is as dependable as a mountain.
In God, we find the foundation upon which our lives rest.
In God, we find safety in the times of trouble.
In God, we find security in times of fear.
In God, we find all that we need to stand against any foe, any fear, and any force that might assail us.
Life is scary sometimes . . . let’s be honest it is scary a lot of the time. (Just some times more than others.) The Haitian earthquake, the floods, the tornado in Parkersburg remind us of our vulnerability to natural disasters.
· Let me tell you- although the ground may shake, the Haitians have a solid rock on which they can rely- God.
· Although the water rushed by, sweeping away lives and property and hope. Flood victims have a high mountain to which they can retreat: God.
· Although the winds may blow and structures fail in a tornado- many in Parkersburg found themselves sheltered in the palm of God’s rock solid love.
It is not just natural disasters.
I see it all around us.
· When a couple experiences a miscarriage or the death of a child- as devastating as that is-- God is your solid rock.
· When marriages fail and the gentle flame of love is transformed into a fiery blast of anger and spite: God is your solid rock.
· When that parental protection suddenly turns to poison, hurting you emotionally or physically or sexually-- and it seems like your safety net is gone; God is your solid Rock.
· When friends upon whom you have been able to depend, abandon you, betray you, or lead you to the slippery slope of risky behavior-- God is your rock.
· When you struggle with that voice inside that says you can’t live without your alcohol, your nerve pill, your pot, or your cigarette-- you have a solid rock refuge in God.
· When you made bad decisions and get yourself tangled up with the law-- when you think everyone knows and everyone but the courts have already judged you guilty-- God is the solid rock of forgiveness.
· When the money is running out and you begin to wonder what tomorrow will bring. When the bills have not been paid and the phone starts to ring. When medical bills, or nursing home bills threaten to take away the land, which your family has worked for three generations-- God is your solid rock and refuge.
· When your young teen daughter comes to announce that she is pregnant. When one of your children is obviously making not only wrong, but dangerous decisions about sex, or drugs, or alcohol or friends, or school , or any of a hundred other ways teenagers have of playing at the edge of the quick sand-- God is your rock solid refuge and you pray they will find that same assurance.
· When the doctor tells you that you have cancer, or macular degeneration, or Alzheimer’s or 100 other terrible diseases, and you think your life is just about over; or when the doctor doesn’t have any answers at all-- look for that solid rock foundation that will keep you from sinking into despair.
· When you can see your beloved spouse failing day by day, week by week; and you know that you may not have too many more anniversaries. When the rock to which you have become married for so long seems to be wasting away and you wonder how you can possibly go on without them. . . when the decisions get harder and the time gets shorter-- God is your rock and your salvation- an ever solid help in time of need.
· When a fire takes away your treasured possessions and you don’t know where to turn. . .
· When an accident leaves you in pain and wondering if you’ll ever walk comfortably again. . .
· When someone you love turns out to be different than you expected . .
· When the world becomes gray and depression fills your heart. . .
· When your friend says that they are not sure they believe in God any more…
Have I missed anybody? Add your own if you have to. . .
· When you feel lonely,
· or alone,
· or afraid,
· or vulnerable,
· or weak,
· or lost, o
· r despairing,
· or abandoned,
· or hopeless.
When you are sinking and you need something to hold on to-- Reach out and you’ll find that God is a solid foundation-- sure footing-- a secure shelter-- a loving and eternal source of hope.
That’s what all the fancy words in the psalm mean.; let me never be put to shame . . . rescue me; . . . save me. . . . Rescue me from the hand of the wicked, . . . from the grasp of the unjust and cruel. . .. Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent. . . . Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed; let those who seek to hurt me be covered with scorn and disgrace. O GOD YOU ARE MY ROCK AND MY REFUGE.
In Isaiah 44 God says "Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other....ROCK."There is no other mountain. There is no other sure foundation.
What is the biggest problem you have ever faced? What is the deepest hurt you have experienced? What is the greatest struggle you have? What is your greatest fear today? What is your biggest worry?
Maybe you are even making a mountain out of that struggle. Maybe it looks insurmountable. Maybe you can’t even imagine how you are going to get to the other side. There doesn’t seem any way over it, you can’t go around it, and you certainly can’t go through it. Remember-- There is No, there is no other....ROCK besides God.There is no mountain bigger than God. There is no promise more sure than God. There is no foundation more secure than your faith in God.
Third Day sings a song about the mountain of God. I’d like to conclude the sermon by playing that song for you.
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