I Lift Up My Eyes

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
  My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1

Whooshing up the side of Sulphur Mountain in Banff, Alberta, the town below receded to the size of a tiny village surrounding a child’s toy train. From the mountaintop, the Bow Valley stretched out before us, its glacial river sparkling in the sunlight. Though my home sits at 7200 feet in elevation, I stand in awe of the rugged formations of the Northern Rocky Mountains. I cannot help but have a changed perspective when standing atop such formidable stone masses.

I Lift Up My Eyes to My Creator

While others long for oceans or wide-open plains, the mountains call to me. Towering peaks draw my eyes upward, focus my thoughts on things above, and point my heart toward my Creator, the magnificent God whose ways are far beyond my ability to comprehend. They speak of strength, power, and safety. Their immovable masses remind me of the immensity and power of the God who spoke the world into being. When looking up from below, the breathtaking heights remind me of how small and insignificant I am compared to all that he has made.

What is man that you are mindful of him,
And the son of man that you care for him? Psalms 8:4

Man cannot manufacture anything close to the grandeur of lofty peaks where no man walks, where glaciers hide, and the winds howl nonstop around caverns and peaks. Their immensity points us to God as Creator and Ruler of all that exists.

I Lift Up My Eyes Searching for Refuge

Mountains have long been regarded as places of refuge and safety. I understand when David writes in Psalm 31:2, “Be my rock of refuge, a fortress of defense to save me.” In foretelling the end times, Jesus warned, “‘Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.’” High, craggy peaks offer shelter and hiding places. They make it difficult for enemies to pursue. There, in eyries out of man’s reach, eagles make their nests and raise their young, soaring high above the mountaintops. David wrote, in Psalm 18:1-2:

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Mountaintop Places of Worship

In ancient times, people sought mountains as places of worship. The pagan altars in the Old Testament were frequently referred to as “high places.” Scripture associates their lofty heights with God’s dwelling. Exodus 15:17 says, “You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.”

Jesus gave his first public sermon on the side of a mountain. He sought their heights for relief from the crowds that followed him day and night, leaving him little time to commune with his Father or teach His disciples. Matthew 5:1, “Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.” He was transfigured on a mountain, and he died on the hill of Calvary.

Places of Personal Retreat

Christians often speak of a special time of communion with the Father as a “mountaintop experience.” Moses encountered God on top of Mount Sinai. It was there that God gave him the Ten Commandments and spoke with him face to face. In 1 Kings 19:11-12. God told the prophet, Elijah:

“Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

In Matthew 14:23, Jesus chose the mountains as a place of solitude, “And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone …” When my heart grows weary of the trials and evil of this world, “I lift up my eyes to the hills.” When I seek God’s presence in the mountains, I find him with a power and majesty that I never experience on lower ground. Because of their solitude and the difficulty of surmounting their highest peaks, mountains are special places where we can draw closer to God.

I Lift Up My Eyes to the God of Creation

Discover the Father in the marvel of the world he made. Whether you live near mountains, deserts, rolling prairies, or the crashing breakers of the ocean, he is there. Paul writes in Romans 1:19-20: “For what can be known about God is plain to them [men], because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse …”

Lift up your eyes to the God of Creation. Worship the God who dwells in high and lofty places. Listen for the God who calls to you through all that he has made. Kneel before him, and call on his name. He is waiting for you.

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