Mountain Love

Posted by Tia Ciferno and filed in Encouragement for Daily Living

Mountain Love

God’s timing is perfect. In the midst of grieving the loss of my brother, the Lord arranged a week away for our family. Our journey took us to the wondrous state of Colorado, and once there we were completely in awe of the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. Debbie and Mike Maurello own the ranch where we stayed. Our little cabin was nestled between two high hills…one covered with purple sage bushes and the other clothed in tall pine trees.

As the week went on, a scripture I had put to music years ago kept coming to my mind.

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:10

Living in Ohio doesn’t gives us little opportunity to “make real” the analogies in our Lord’s Word about mountains. So it was incredible to experience the depth of this Truth for the first time because of our personal encounter with these giants.

I learned that our hosts have spent their lives there in the Rockies. So did their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents. In fact, Debbie’s great-great grandfather was a Cherokee Indian who was hired as a scout for the United States Cavalry. Generations have been waking like we did on those sun-soaked mornings to find the mountains still there. They went to bed on those Colorado nights with the mountains faithfully overshadowing their cabins.

All week long I was being reminded again and again that our Lord’s Love is stronger and even more everlasting than those immovable, towering pieces of rock and earth. God is saying that EVEN IF those mountains are shaken, EVEN IF the hills disappeared, His Love and His Promises are solid and permanent.

In our world there is not much that is permanent. Everything changes. Our health, our finances, our relationships, our careers, our churches, our governments, our feelings, our weather. Apart from Christ, we have never experienced the kind of unchanging, unconditional, rock-solid Love that our Lord is promising. Our spouses, parents, children, friends, pastors…have all loved us imperfectly. But here our Lord is telling us with the mightiest example He can use, that His Love is very different than human love. God’s Love is unchanging and will last forever. Long after the mountains and the hills are gone, He will still be loving us.

When our Father seems distant, when we wonder if our imperfections have diminished His Love for us…I know now what we need to do.

We need to remember the mountains.