Day 10 - Difficulties

Isaiah 40: 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.

Isaiah is speaking here about the coming of the Messiah - verse 3  is  "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God."   But if I just look at verse 4 I am seeing hope  - the valley shall be raised up.  Sometimes when I am blue I sing in the car, a hymn that goes - Lord lead me to the mountain because I've been in the valley far to long.  The valleys are the low spots in our life and they shall be raised up.  The mountain,  which could represent those mountain of problems you got going, will be made low and yes, the rough patch that you are experiencing; well,  it will even out.

How you might ask?  I think the answer is prayer.  I have been listening to a Joyce Meyer tape on worry and there is just something so common sense about it.  She said if you are worried don't be, worry doesn't solve the problem, pray on it.  If there is something good praise God for it. 

We forget sometimes to thank God for the little things in life, like a perfect peach, or a sunny day.  Recently we were called back to work full time.  Not being a fan of getting up 6:30 am morning I still praised God  for being able to work 8 to 5.  If I was first I came in singing Good Morning office, thank you Lord for  another week of work.  But then on Thursday we got told we were going back to part time.  I think Barb at the office said it best, it was like all the air got sucked out of the office.  After a year and 4 months on part time, we already know how low the valleys will be, how high the mountain of problems will be and how rough the road will be next week.  So on Friday, on the way to work I praise God for the last three weeks of full time work and just prayed for help for the next.  It's all we can do really, to think positively.  Handle the problems one by one-- there's a promise somewhere at the end of all this. 

So, even if you are having a bad day, try to be grateful for at least one thing and thank God for it.  Life is full of  adventures, some better than others.  

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.  Let us move forward with strong and active faith"  - F.D.R.

Day 9 - a Masonic Mountain Top?

You know, I love when I get a mountain scripture just out of the blue.  Usually I use my old Bible's concordance in the back, but today I got my scripture from.....are you ready.....a book entitled "Freemasons - Inside the World's Oldest Secret Society."  The book had fallen out of a bag of books given to me by my friend, Barbara, for my church's flea market.  When I saw it I thought, oh I would like to read that, so I kept it.

Tonight I decided to start reading it and on the first page of Chapter 1 was  2 Chronicles 2:18--  ¹⁸ And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work. 

This is part of the story of the temple that Solomon built.  I gotta tell you, I never really read these scriptures before, I might of glanced at part of them, but I read them tonight and it is quite fascinating on how big and elaborate the Temple was.

Metals such as gold, silver, bronze and iron were used in the temple.

Gold donated by King David was 3,000 pounds. Donated silver was about 7,000 pounds.  The amount of gold used 1 ton and silver was 3 ¾ tons and bronze was 2 ½ tons.

The weight of the gold was 100,000 talents and it equals 3,750 tons and cost today about 45 billion dollars. The weight of silver was 1,000,000 talents and it equals 37,500 tons and cost 10.8 billion dollars. In today’s market the gold and silver would be worth about 56 billion dollars on the US market.

The fabrics that were used in the temple were purple, violet, and crimson in color and of the finest silks known to man.

The Temple measurements were as follows:

It was 90 feet long and 30 feet wide and was three stories in height. The outer walls of the Temple were 6 feet thick. Two bronze pillars stood on each side of the door. The names of these two pillars are Boaz and Ja’chin. They were 40 feet tall. I am not sure why the pillars where named, there are theories out there one being that Jachin means establish which represents King Solomon and Boaz means strength representing King David.  

So what does this all have to do with the Freemasons, well, King Solomon asks the King of Tyre for the best of the best  to oversee the building of the temple. This King of Tyre answers with this in  2 Chronicles 2  - ¹³ “Now I have sent a skilled man, who has understanding, Huram-abi, ¹⁴  the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre. He is trained to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and in purple, blue, and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and to do all sorts of engraving and execute any design that may be assigned him, with your craftsmen, the craftsmen of my lord, David your father. 

 Is Huram-abi  the start of the Freemasons?  Is the Huram or also refered to Hiram Abiff the Grand Master who would share his secrets?  How should I know, I told you I am on page 1 of Chapter 1, but I did learn all this from page 1 and several chapters in 2 Chronicles.  2 Chronicles is some great history as the title suggest is chronicles the history of the old Testament.  

Now I don't think I have learned anything deeply spiritual from this mountain top, but I was fascinated by the visual imagery of the temple and it's furnishings; and of course, it became the home of the Ark of the Covenant, that housed the tablets that God gave to Moses.  So it was a great learning experience that makes me want to turn to page two.  You never know where you are going to find inspiration.

Keep your eyes open.

Day 8 - Righteousness

If I really was on a mountain I would of starved to death by now from the gaps between my days.  But I am back and this time with Psalm 36: 6- Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; Your judgments are like a great deep. O LORD, You preserve man and beast.

The mountains of God was confusing me, I was wondering - did they think God lived in the mountains?  But after reading some different views on the scripture I found that it was a reference to the greatness of God.   God's righteousness is great, but I find the second part of the scripture interesting also.  Your judgments are like a great deep.  Some say the great deep is the deepest part of the ocean, the part we don't understand fully.  God's judgments are like that, perhaps too deep for us to understand.  But the good news is at the end, He preserves man and beast, and that's us. 

I've been praying and reading more lately, I guess as the weather gets warmer I get outside, where it is quiet and can contemplate more.  Like going to a mountain top.  So, I will endeavor to get my 40 days done.  Eight down and 32 to go.  Do you think I can find that many mountain scriptures, well we shall see.

Until tomorrow.

Day 7 - On which Mountain?

Today's Scripture comes from the woman at the well story in John  4 -  
¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 

The Jews had the temple in Jerusalem, while the woman, a Samaritan thought the correct place was Mount Gerizim.  But Jesus answers her with   ²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 


Jesus' death and resurrection would soon be coming and from that a different way of thinking began.  God can be worshipped from anywhere.  From any mountain, in any room or from any country.  That is the freedom of religion.  

What I always find humorous in the Bible is that  woman almost always "got it", this woman understood  that Jesus was the Messiah and went to tell others.  The Disciples never quite got what Jesus was trying to tell them until after the resurrection.  It all comes down to faith.  


Oh, I have heard of arguments (been in a few) as to which mountain (religion) is the right one.  The louder the other person is yelling tells me they haven't gotten it yet, Jesus' message was about loving one another not which religion is right and which is wrong. 


So remember, it's not where your mountain is, but what you have learned from that mountain.

Day 6: The mountain that showed up at my door

In the beginning of my 40 days on the mountain I said something like if I can't go to the mountains, I'll have the mountains come to me.  Literally on Saturday this scripture came to me via a knock on the front door.  It was my friends, the Jehovah Witnesses and she asked me, do you think Church and Politics should be mixed.  I said  no (thinking of the statement never talk about either because it causes many an argument, a few I have been in, LOL) She then agrees and sites this scripture.

John 6: 15 -  Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Now I wasn't thinking about church and politics when she was reading this to me, all I could see was the word MOUNTAIN, and I am thinking, wow God you can really send reminders!  It was like - good morning Bev, oh by the way your behind on that 40 day blog so here is a scripture to ponder.  So ponder I have, I am not sure this is really about Jesus not wanting to be a politician or  not wanting to mix religion with politics as much as it was that the people did not understand what kind of "Kingdom" Jesus was going to be ruling over.

The people of the time wanted a King who would fight for the freedom.  Jesus was fighting, but for our souls, His Kingdom was to be in heaven and the people weren't quite grasping that at the time.  The people wanted war but Jesus was trying to teach us unconditional love for one another.  Something, I still have a little trouble grasping, and maybe that's why God sent a mountain to my door to remind me I am on a journey and I need to continue on it.

Day 5: Comfort Zones

Today's mountain scripture came from a book I am reading - The Prayer of Jabez Devotional. It is funny how God works sometimes, I didn't expect it and poof it just popped up in my reading.

From Joshua 14: 12-13 "Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified.  It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said" and Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunnch as an inheritance.

This story is about Caleb an old friend of Joshua.  They had faced a lot of hard times together since leaving Egypt.  Forty Five years earlier they were among a group of commandos Moses sent to spy out the Promised Land.  Caleb and Joshua were the only ones who trusted God would help Israel win the Promised Land.  In this story Caleb is now 85 and he still wants the land promised to him by Moses for his bravery as a spy.  In fact he plans on fighting for it and he succeeds.   At the age of 85 Caleb did not mind traveling out of his comfort zone. 

I like comfort zones, and really hate leaving them.  My job was my comfort zone and now I really should look for something different to do in life, but I hate leaving the comfort of what I know and my friends.   God wants us to leave our comfort zones when it comes to His ministry,  God always comes knocking with a bigger idea.   We should really never be scared of God's next idea for us, because He is with us in it, but fear has stopped many a Christian from taking big steps.  I know this is something I need to really work on.

I love this quote by William Shedd - it says it all - "A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for."

Day 4: Sermon on the mountain

I am not sure where this scripture will lead me, but here we go. This particular teaching is know as the Sermon on the Mount -

Matthew 5: 1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, ² and he began to teach them. 

What Jesus taught them were the Beatitudes and here they are

  “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
⁵ Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
⁷ Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.
¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 

I always found the Beatitudes hard to teach to Sunday School Children.  Jesus is trying to teach us a transformation of our inner self.  Jesus presents the Beatitudes in a positive sense, virtues in life that will lead to a reward, not so much in this lifetime but in eternity. Someone once described them as Be - attitudes,  positive traits for our life.  They breakdown more simply as --be humble, mourning not only in the passing of others, but mourning our own regrets of our sins.  Meekness, which follows along with humility, meekness can also mean kindness and gentleness.  Justice, mercy, love and peace all wonderful traits the can build off from one another.  Of course, all this might come with a price, others might not understand you and insult you, and even persecute you.  This still happens today.  But in the end, you got heaven to look forward to.


Maybe these are some attitudes I need to build on more. Maybe that's why I was led to this mountain and had such a hard time with it.   Today's sermon at church  reflected on letting God's Love flow in and out of us.  Love for one another is sometimes hard to maintain.  As much as you love someone, it can also be easy to get mad at them.  But to love unconditionally is the gift that God gave us in Jesus and His teachings are trying to show us the way to love everyone unconditionally to.  Not an easy thing to do, but who said this was going to be easy.

Day 3: Temptation

If you were wondering, I wasn't napping on the mountain top, life just got in the way.  I had this post written out in my notes, but just haven't had time to post it here.  Today's mountain is from Matthew 4:8  Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ⁹ “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ” 

Since we start off with the word "Again" we know that this is not the first time the devil tempted Jesus, in fact it was the third time.  This story takes place right after the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, and the voice of God declaring that Jesus was His Son.  Jesus leaves and fasts for 40 days and 40 nights (geeze 40 days sounds so familiar)  and the devil tempts  him by saying - "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” but Jesus answers with  "It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.".  Jesus had faith that God would provide for Him.  Then the devil tries to tempt Him by taking him to the highest spot in the Holy City and saying  "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone”  But Jesus answers with, It is also written, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."  Now God test us from time to time, but to test God means that really, you don't have faith.  And now lastly, from our mountain the temptation of POWER to have everything, but the catch is to worship the devil but Jesus again counters with ...it is written  "Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only." 

Jesus defeated the devil, defeated temptation by a means offered to each and everyone of us; and that is by the thoughtful and intelligent use of the Word of God.  Each answer of Jesus was a scripture from the old testament, scriptures Jesus had memorized.  I guess that's why so many people say to memorize scripture, but I have a hard time remembering what I did today let alone a lot of scriptures, but the Bible is usually pretty handy at my house, one only has to open it for answers.  What's your temptation?  and what does the Bible say to help counter it.. If you cannot find anything specific I leave you with his last scripture that helps us deal with temptation.

From 1 Corinthians 10:13

¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Day 2: Mount Zion

So here I am, day two from the mountain top, even though I am not actually there.  I guess you could say that instead of me going to the mountains, I am having the mountains come to me.

Today's mountain scripture is from Psalm 48 -

¹ Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise,
    in the city of our God, his holy mountain.

² Beautiful in its loftiness,
    the joy of the whole earth,
like the heights of Zaphon  is Mount Zion,
    the city of the Great King.
³ God is in her citadels;
    he has shown himself to be her fortress. 

The first verse I knew the moment I saw it because I have sang that line in anthems, praising God.  The whole psalm, which is 14 verses long reflects on Mount Zion being the seat of God, and how God has protected it.  Even though Mount Zion is not geographically the highest  in the region, it is the "highest" because God had chosen it.  It's funny how the different gods of the time had their own mountains.  Mount Zaphon was home to El - chief of the gods of the Phoenicians and of course, Mount Olympus, home to Zeus and the Greek gods.  


The psalm is a celebration of the joy in the security of Mount Zion, the psalmist suggest that the city was secure from all forms of attack with its towers, ramparts and citadels.  But it was God who did the protecting, not the walls surrounding Mount Zion.  Beautiful in its loftiness, that sounds so wonderful, you can almost picture it.  


This psalm and these scriptures tell me to praise God, because He is worthy of praise, He is our protector and our fortress in the toughest of times.  If we seek our refuge in God we cannot be destroyed spiritually because simply, God cannot be destroyed, he is truly our tower, rampart and citadel.  He is truly worthy of our praise, faith and trust.


This psalm ends very powerfully, with this verse.  14 - For this God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end.


Amen to that. 

40 days on the Mountain Top

Day 1
After Book Club the other night, I was thinking.  We are doing a book on prayer and I said, after I pray I am at total peace, totally loving the world, everything is beautiful and then get out of bed and it's downhill thereafter.  So I was thinking about that while I was driving to work Friday and I was in good mood praying to keep calm once I got to work and then someone steps in front of my car while I am driving and they don't look at you, because if they don't look you, you won't  hit them I guess and of course I lost my cool and then I thought, God why can't I go to the mountain top for 40 days, maybe it would make be a better person.  So here I am 40 days on the mountain top.

Now I know what your thinking;  you are thinking that I am not on a mountain top and that is very true.  What I decided to do was 40 days of studies using the word mountain as my guide.  So I am literally studying the mountain tops and evoking on a spiritual journey to see what I can learn from them  You are free to join me if you wish, just don't walk out in front of my car while I am driving. 

The first reading comes from Exodus 3 - Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³ So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
⁴ When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father,  the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God 

 So many thoughts struck me here when I read this.   Out of respect, honor, and devotion, Moses takes off his shoes. Taking off his shoes made him aware of his sin, his unclean heart, his unholiness, as he approach the very holy presence of God.  Do we today respect God with such reverence today.  Do we respect his Church with such reverence.   Since I am always in church I feel like it is home.  Maybe it has lost some of the mystery or that holiness for me.  Removing one's shoes is still practiced today by Muslims before entering a Mosque.  However, if I went to church barefoot tomorrow, that would probably look the opposite, that I was disrespecting God and His Church. 

So what has this reading taught me in my journey. One thing is to listen for God, I doubt I will see any burning bushes, I lie, I have already seen a burning bush at work, but I don't think God spoke from it.  I believe that one was started by a lit cigarette.  I do need to listen and respect God more and respect His Church and the people that go there.  Respect is something I feel that we are loosing in today's society.   I could say it's just the kids, but I am also negligent sometimes in my respect of others and there feelings.

I will also look at the church more as Holy Ground and bring my heart and mind to Church on Sundays, not just the body.   

Good night and good thoughts.