Nature never tired him. If he had any peace it emanated from the silent places, the solemn hills, the flowers and animals of the wild and lonely land.”
–Zane Grey (The Mysterious Rider)
“I raise my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
–Psalm 121:1-2 (HCSB)
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I have often written here my enjoyment of nature and of God’s creation. It never ceases to marvel me. I enjoy the scenery when I travel. I enjoy the sounds; the other day while I was pondering, reading, and writing I stopped to listen to the squirrels rushing back in forth on the limbs of the trees. This morning, as I was going out, I stopped to listen to the gentle rain falling through the leaves on the trees.
It was peaceful, calming. But where does peace come from? Not nature. It comes from the Creator. In Psalm 121, David says that he will look to the mountains. He is not saying that the mountains will rescue him. On the contrary, the reason he looks to the mountains is that mountains in Scripture often depict the government of God. Only in Him can there be true justice. Only in Him will there be peace from our adversaries.
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I came across the following in my reading last week. It was written by D.L. Moody.
A converted Chinese once said: “I was down in a deep pit, half sunk in the mire, crying for someone to help me out. As I looked up I saw a venerable, gray-haired man looking down at me.
‘My son,’ he said, ‘this is a dreadful place.’
‘Yes,’ I answered, ‘I fell into it; can’t you help me out?’
‘My son,’ was his reply, ‘I am Confucius. If you had read my books and followed what they taught, you would never have been here.’
‘Yes, father,’ I said, ‘but can’t you help me out?’
As I looked he was gone. Soon I saw another form approaching, and another man bent over me, this time with closed eyes and folded arms. He seemed to be looking to some far-off place.
‘My son,’ Buddha said, ‘just close your eyes and fold your arms, and forget all about yourself. Get into a state of rest. Don’t think about anything that can disturb. Get so still that nothing can move you. Then, my child, you will be in such delicious rest as I am.’
‘Yes, father,’ I answered, ‘I will when I am above ground. Can’t you help me out?’ But Buddha, too, was gone.
I was just beginning to sink into despair when I saw another figure above me, different from the others. There were marks of suffering on His face. I cried out to Him, ‘O, Father, can you help me?’
‘My child,’ He said, ‘what is the matter?’
Before I could answer Him, He was down in the mire by my side. He folded His arms about me and lifted me up; then He fed me and rested me. When I was well He did not say, ‘Now don’t do that again,’ but He said, ‘We will walk on together now’; and we have been walking together until this day.”
It reminds me of the words of that great song.
“He brought me out of the miry clay,
He set my feet on the Rock to stay;
He puts a song in my soul today,
A song of praise, hallelujah.”
–H.L. Gilmour
The way may be full of obstacles that range from rocks and boulders strewn across the trail, to storms that leave the trail mired with mud. Hidden sinkholes may abound. However, our Guide, the Holy Spirit, is walking the trail with us.