"Climb the Mountains and Get Their Good Tidings"
A Camping Devotional (John Muir series)
"Climb the Mountains and Get Their Good Tidings"
Muir was convinced that mountains carried a message. Not metaphorically – literally. He believed that mountains, if you were willing to climb them and listen, would communicate something essential about God and creation. They had "good tidings" – good news – to share with anyone humble enough to receive it.
Muir spent decades climbing mountains, not as recreation but as spiritual practice. Each climb was an act of listening. What would this mountain teach him? What would he discover about geology, ecology, God's design? He approached mountains as a student approaches a teacher – with curiosity, respect, and openness to being changed by what he learned.
This was radical in Muir's time and remains radical now. We treat mountains as recreation. We climb them for fitness, for photos, for accomplishment. Muir climbed them to be taught. There's a huge difference.
Mountains do have good tidings to share – if we climb them with the right attitude. They teach us about God's creative power. They teach us about time – geological time that makes our lives look brief. They teach us about perspective – the view from the top shows how small our problems are. They teach us about persistence – every step gets you closer, but only if you keep going. They teach us about beauty that exists independent of human recognition.
Psalm 121:1-2 says: "I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."
The Psalmist is saying: I look at the mountains and I'm reminded that God is bigger than my problems. My help comes from the One who made those mountains. The good tidings the mountains carry is this: God is great, God is faithful, God is here.
Proverbs 8:22-26 describes creation as Wisdom's domain: "The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be... I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep... when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command."
The mountains, the oceans, the entire creation – they're all displaying God's wisdom. They have a message: God is organized, God is powerful, God is in control.
Romans 1:20 says: "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made."
Creation is a message from God about His character. Mountains are part of that message. When you climb them – when you get close enough to really see them, to feel their reality, to experience their scale – you're receiving their good tidings.
Tomorrow's Practice: This week, find a hill or mountain to climb – it doesn't have to be serious mountaineering, just something that requires effort to reach a higher place. As you climb, ask yourself: What is this mountain teaching me about God? What good tidings does it have for me? After you reach a high point, sit for a few minutes and listen. What do you hear? What perspective does height provide? Write down what the climb taught you.
Reflection Question: When you stand before something magnificent in creation – a mountain, an ocean, a forest – what does that experience teach you about God that you don't learn in daily life?