Mountain top experiences

This week in my devotional studies, I have made it through Numbers and into Deuteronomy.  I am amazed at how God can use a scheduled reading program to speak to where my heart is at a particular time.  You see, after a dark, wet winter, it is nearing hiking season again.  I love to hike more than anything.  But, I am not getting any younger, and my knees are pretty much shot.  I can go uphill forever, but coming back down is another story.  As I was wondering if I had another summer of hiking left in me, I began to wonder what it is about hiking in the mountains that is so special.  Somehow, I really feel closer to God up on a mountain than anywhere else.  When I think about having to take it down a notch, and stick to the valleys and lowlands, my heart kind of sinks a little.

Wouldn't you know God has an answer for that?  As I was reading about Moses and the Israelites over the past few weeks, something popped out at me:  so many important interactions between God and his people happened on mountain tops.  Moses received the 10 commandments and spoke face to face with God on Mt. Sinai.  He got to see the promised land and was burried on Mt. Nebo.  Aaron was also burried on a mountain top.  I also thought about other important mountain top experiences:  Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, Abraham offering Isaac on Mt. Moriah, where later my Jesus gave his life for me in the greatest event ever to occur in the universe.

No wonder I feel such a connection with God on a mountain!  Now I only hope I have a few more mountain top adventures left in me before I have to trade in my hiking boots for a pair of sensible shoes!