“Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.”
Psalm 125:1

I had almost forgotten this lovely start to Psalm 125, and then it came up in my own personal devotions and it’s been stuck in my head ever since.
Man oh man is this verse tricky to sing.
Because trusting in God can be so difficult sometimes.
When I cannot see what’s next, and don’t know what the future holds.
But when I do – oh baby – that’s the good stuff.
It’s our trust in God that makes us like a mountain, the psalmist says.
It’s not our health.
Our political views.
Our financial stability.
Our looks or physical attributes.
Our amount of faith or what we believe.
It’s our trust.
Those who trust are like Mt Zion.

Since I’ve never been to Jerusalem and looked out from the city toward the real Mount Zion, I often substitute the image of Mount Rainier in my head when I hear this verse.

I’ve been to the west coast a few times in my life,  (I actually took this picture from nearby Crystal Mountain) and every time I see Mt Rainier, I have the same two thoughts:
1. It’s gorgeous
2. It just seems to come up out of nowhere.

It’s this giant mountain, beastly huge and beautiful and standing tall and strong and solid, and unlike in the Rockies or Tetons or even the Alps – there aren’t really a lot of other mountains around it.  It’s just there. Rising above all the stuff around it and looking so strong and solid.

Another thing about mountains, is that their shape is untippable.
Larger on the bottom, their base is stable, and no matter what comes, rains or winds or storms or even avalanches, they don’t knock it over.
And that’s what this song says we are like when we trust in God.

Whew.

I know.
It’s super hard to trust sometimes.
When the world seems like one giant chaos machine.
When we keep getting bad news.
When it seems like the hits just keep on coming.
When our fear and anxiety seem to be overtaking us.
But when you feel that way, just picture the mountain.
When you trust God – that’s you.
Strong.
Steady.
Stable.
Unmoveable.
So even in the midst of storms and chaos, you can stand strong.

 

**And if you need to rock out to this psalm, the way it was intended: here you go.