What's In Those Hills?

From my front deck during the summer, all you can see are tall trees lining the road. During the winter, those trees lose their leaves, and you get a glimpse of the mountain range behind it. If you climb the hill in our backyard and look out, you can see over the trees, and it doesn't matter whether it's summer or winter; those mountains are visible, solid as the day they were born, a reminder of God's eternal faithfulness.

Psalm 121:1-2 says: "I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."

This is one of the very first verses I ever memorized. I recall sitting in a room in the back of our church building with my pastor's wife and the rest of the little girls in my Sunday School class and repeating this verse over and over with her. "Ready? Let's try it again. 'I lift my eyes to the hills...'"

"When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. 'Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?' the servant asked.

"'Don't be afraid,' the prophet answered. 'Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.'

"And Elisha prayed, 'Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.' Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha" (2 Kings 6:15-17).

The servant did not see the help that the hills held... until the Lord opened his eyes. He had to have clear-sightedness to see what was actually happening on those hills, but the Lord had to be the one to give him his spiritual lenses, so to speak.

"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people..." Ephesians 1:18. 

Some of my favorite sights in the world involve mountains. There's that view from the hill behind my house. Or traveling to my parents' home in Asheville where the mountain ranges take my breath away as I drive up over the cut from Tennessee into North Carolina. Or the awe-inspiring Rockies that I got to see when I drove through the western U.S. years ago. There's something so grand and majestic and timeless about mountains.

But if I try to look at those ranges without my glasses on, all they become are hazy dark behemoths. There's no structure or separation or clarity about them at all. 

"I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?"
"Open his eyes, Lord, that he may see... and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire..."

"The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands and thousands..." Psalm 68:17. 

Lord, this morning I, and I know many others, are straining our eyes to see what is dark and murky and hazy. There's an enormous dark behemoth on the horizon that looks menacing, but we can't see it clearly.

Open our eyes, equip us to fight. Give us spiritual lenses that can see through the physical division and struggle, and to understand the war that is happening behind the scenes. Let us not be so focused on what is directly in front of us that we miss what is happening in the hills. Lord, the struggle is not in our politics; it's not in the voting polls. It's not in the cities and the riots and the divisions. Those are manifestations of the real struggle, the real war. Lord, line us up in the ranks of the behind-the-scenes battle, where we wrestle against the Enemy, and give us the Sword the divides even to the joints and marrow. Show us the heart of the issues, not the skin of them.

Humble us, return us to our knees. Show us Your power, Your care, Your "open door that no one can shut" (Revelation 3:8a). You are the God of angel armies! 

"I know who goes before me;
I know who stands behind!
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side!
The One who reigns forever - 
He is a Friend of mine!
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side."

Surround us, Lord, before and behind. Put us on that mountaintop right in the middle of your armies. Open our eyes to see the work that You are doing, Your agenda, Your plan, Your orchestration. You are awesome; Your works are wonderful. Whatever was to our profit, Lord, let us consider it as a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing You, of following Your lead. Let us consider everything else rubbish, garbage.

We want to know You and the power of Your resurrection, yes, even the participation of Your sufferings. We are still in the struggle; give us wings on our feet to run the race, to fight the good fight, and to strain toward what is ahead. Keep our gaze clear and focused on that end goal, the end game, the ultimate prize.

Amen!