March 18th

By Randall L. Broad

Read: Numbers 26:52-28:15; Luke 3:1-22; Psalm 61:1-8; Proverbs 11:16-17

This post was first published in 2013

¹²Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go up this mountain in the Abarim Range and see the land I have given the Israelites. ¹³After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, ¹⁴for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes.” (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.)

Numbers 27:12-14

My reflection for today comes not as much from the scripture as my own experiences. One of the things I love the most about the life of Moses is the way that he constantly was called to meet God on the mountain. Personally, I feel there is great power in this relationship between Moses and God that can only be found in natural settings. I have often felt ‘called to the mountains’ myself.

  

In the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, just past Newfound Gap there is a parking place with a great view of the North Carolina Mountains and an area Horace Kephart called the ‘back of beyond’. There was once a plaque that read:

Where Man is only a Visitor

In front of you is a very special place-part of the parks ‘backcountry’. A place without road, wires, houses … Here you or your children or theirs-may walk for days, largely free of the sights, sounds, and smells of the everyday world.

There are few such places left in America, and none in the East matches the wild lands of the Smokies, a beautiful scene, a great scientific resource. But perhaps the most profound value of the park lies in its quality as a sanctuary-for people as well as plants and wildlife.  

Sadly the sign is no longer there but I copied it long ago into my hiking journal. The people stop and are awed by the beauty of the view, but they miss the true majesty of God’s creation. Before them is the world the way God created it, not the world man created of concrete and steel, but a world set aside and healed by the hand of a powerful loving God.

The writer called the backcountry a ‘sanctuary’. We call the places we worship a sanctuary too. It is a fitting description of both. God comes to us in both places. The Israelites had places of worship too, but when God wanted an intimate conversation with Moses he called him to the mountain. Moses went because he understood the mountain was a very special place free of the sights, sounds, and smells of the everyday world (i.e. sins and human suffering). He understood the profound value that the mountain was a sanctuary of God.

I have experienced this myself. I think about those experiences when I read about Moses going to the mountain to die with only his Lord and Father present. I love church and the people I worship with every Sunday, but my most profound moments with the Lord have come deep in the Great Smoky Mountains, sometimes alone except for God. Other times I have ran into small church groups or pastors on sabbatical. We have had impromptu services, prayed together, and worshiped the Lord.

Despite the fact that we were strangers before, the Lord brought us to Him in his sanctuary. Now they will always be special brothers to me, today I honor them.

Walk with the Lord …

Ephesians 1:17

(RLB250318)

© Copyright 2017: Randall L. Broad

Disclaimer: This commentary is written by Randall L. Broad. It is in no way affiliated with or represents any denomination, university, church, or pastor. Any errors or omissions are purely my responsibility.