On a late afternoon when the clouds gather around the peaks and the lightning begins to play its games over the mountain meadows, the high country is no place to be, but it can be spectacular to watch from a safe distance.  At such times the hills can be alive with a sound that isn’t music, but it has a magnificence of its own.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (Passin’ Through)

Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off.”
              –Exodus 20:18 (NKJV)
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    I’ve been in the high country during some of those terrific, magnificent lightning and thunder displays.  It is a tremendous sight, awe-inspiring, but also frightening.  The lightning flashes and then the thunder rolls shaking the very ground upon where you are standing.  You must run from it to seek shelter, but you do not want to miss the spectacle.
    I believe that is why when God speaks to us that it is usually in the small, quiet voice.  If not, we would quake and not hear what He has to say, but be more interested in the grandeur which is displayed.  If He spoke aloud as He did at creation we would not listen.  One day we shall see Him as He is, and I believe hear Him when He speaks.
    A trip to creation gives us a snippet of His voice.

              “How wonderful, O Lord, are the works of your hands!  The heavens declare Your glory, the arch of sky displays Your handiwork.  In Your love You have given us power to behold the beauty of Your world robed in all its splendor.  The sun and the stars, the valleys and hills, the rivers and lakes all disclose Your presence.  The roaring breakers of the sea tell of your awesome might, the beasts of the field and the birds of the air bespeak Your wondrous will.  In Your goodness You have made us able to hear the music of the world.  The voices of loved ones reveal to us that You are in our midst.  A divine voice sings through all creation.”
                          –Traditional Jewish prayer

Dare you take the time to visit, then do not waste it; take the time to listen.  Listen to the song that comes by the wind through the leaves of the trees.  Listen to the singing of the water as it babbles along in a small brook.  Hearken to the call of the hawk as it courses through the sky seeking its prey.  There are so many sounds.  I remember walking up in Maryland.  Suddenly, a loud “pop” as a high-powered rifle, only louder, cracked behind me forcing me to turn in wonder as I saw the trunk of a very large tree, shatter thirty feet above the ground.
    Here is a little devotional study.  Look at all the times that God met with people on mountains.  See the characteristics of the event.  For example, Moses in receiving the commandments; or the Mount when God spoke in the presence of His Son and Peter, James and John.

Twilight fell.  The stars came out white and clear.  Night cloaked the valley with dark shadows and the hills with its obscurity.  The blue vault overhead deepened and darkened.  The hunter patrolled his beat, and hours were moments to him.  He heard the low hum of the insects, the murmur of running water, the rustle of the wind.  A coyote cut the keen air with high-keyed, staccato cry.  The owls hooted, with dismal and weird plaint, one to the other.  Then a wolf mourned.  But these sounds only accentuated the loneliness and wildness of the silent night.”
              –Zane Grey  (The Mysterious Rider)

    “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” 
              –John 10:28-29 (NKJV)
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Trust me–God is everywhere.  He is with you in each and every circumstance.  The uncertainties of life become certain because He is there with you through them.  We may know the theology that God is omnipresent, but do we sincerely practice it?  I trust that you have a morning devotion and prayer time, however, throughout the day you should revisit them.  Yes, while at work, while traveling, while doing the untold chores of the day, take time to revisit the Lord for He is there.
    David understood this and refers to it in many Psalms, such as 73:23, “Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand.” (NKJV) and Psalm 16:8, “I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.” (NKJV)  There may be a crowd around you, yet you can engage in a solitary thought.  You may have someone at your desk, yet you can lean back and contemplate this thought quickly.  Someone has said that we ought to make a “chapel in our soul” so that at a moment’s notice we can make a quick visit.  We cannot be too busy to turn aside to God for a moment.
    Francis de Sales states, “If we become familiar with close, private exchanges with God, the thoughts of our mind will become more beautiful.  This is not at all hard to do.  You can do it anytime and anywhere.  It is not inconvenient even for the busiest person.  This little turning aside spiritually is but a moment of relaxation.  Instead of interrupting our work, it will help us to work more productively.  It is like taking a little refreshment during a journey.  Far from interfering with progress, it energizes us.  A little rest, and then we can travel better.”
    Use the things around you to reflect upon.  Become familiar with the Scriptures for they are there to help us along the way.  I was watching the bluejays and cardinals searching for food along the ground yesterday morning.  The thought was there that the even the sparrow has a home (Ps 84:3) and that not one of them falls to the ground without the Father wills (Matthew
10:29).  Let the Holy Spirit quicken your mind.
    God is there, right there where you are, meet with Him.

A man can never do the same piece of trail over again.  But he can always turn into the one he ought to be on.”
              –Ernest Haycox  (The Wild Bunch)

    “Go in by the narrow gate. For the wide gate has a broad road which leads to disaster and there are many people going that way. The narrow gate and the hard road lead out into life and only a few are finding it.”
              –Matthew 7:13-14(Phillips)
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    “I’ve lost it, I’ve lost it,” I hear the cry of someone scurrying around, maybe on his hands and knees looking for the place where he can get back on the trail that he was riding.  It was a good trail, comfortable, with relatively few obstacles along the way.  It was a trail free from hostiles and few predators moved along its borders.  Oh, where, oh where is it?
    Perhaps the cry is more like this, “I sure miss that path I was on, this one is so rocky and so steep.”  The way was once in the green meadow with soft grass to walk upon, now the trail has turned rugged and rough.  It strained the body, mind, and soul.
    The issue is that the person became a Christian.  He found the trail found the narrow gate and is walking the Lord’s pathway now.  It is a hard road, but it leads to life and to the eternal city.  Gone is the easy way.  Oh, not that life was necessarily easy, but on the old road his enemy wasn’t Satan and the world.  Now he seems to be attacked one way or another around every bend in the road.  Often he finds himself in a “heap of trouble.”  There are all kinds of obstacles from fallen trees, to rocks, to quicksand.  There are swamps along the way and rugged mountains to traverse over.
    The howl of a wolf may cry, answered in the distance by its mate.  He may be stalked.  There might be the growl of the puma, or the roar of the bear.  He begins to wonder why in the world didn’t he stay on the easy path.  But this is the one that he is supposed to be on.  This is the one where he can lay down at night in spiritual peace.  Rest for his soul, there should be no anguish or anxiety.
    Often he has questioned if he should try and go back or cross over to the easy trail.  He can see from one of the boulders he is sitting on the people across the gorge laughing and seeming to have to good time, a happy time.  Once in a while one will see him and wave at him, beckoning him to come over.  All he has found is struggle, but at the end of each day there is comfort.  He will lay himself down to sleep and remember that he is not alone, that he has a Guide, a Comforter to be with him as he travels.
    He is assured by his Guide, that one day it will be worth it all.  One day he will be in the full presence of the Lord and each blister, each scrap, each scar will be worth the travail.  One day he will fully realize that the stalking of the wolf has ceased and he made it, he was not pulled down and devoured.  One day he will rest from the fighting he has found himself in against the hostile forces of the devil.  One day…but not yet, not now.
    Stay on the straight and narrow.  Don’t seek to go back, for the Lord has warned if he seeks to go back he is not fit for the kingdom of heaven.  Weather through the storms–hunker down if needed.  Use your rod and staff to fight off the wolves, lions, and bears.  Fight the good fight, be alert, be strong, be brave.  Endure hardships that you will be “perfect and complete lacking nothing.” (James 1:4)