A Blessing from the Mountains: God's Sovereign Love

Annecy, France Looking Toward the French Alps
Photo Credit: Mark Grace

Our friend Francoise drove us to Annecy-by-the-Lake one brisk March day in 2008.  It was only one day out of almost 21,000 days that I have lived in my lifetime, yet it stands out in memory from nearly all the others.

French Alps
Photo Credit: Mark Grace

I remember walking in the shadow of the French Alps, casting my gaze toward those imposing, snow covered giants and thinking that if only I could live in Annecy, I would never lose sight of the fact that "the Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him." (Habakkuk 2:20)

Then I looked around me and the sad thought came to me that it probably would not take very long for me to become accustomed to this breath-taking landscape.  How long, I thought, would it be before this awareness of God's transcendent majesty became just another taken-for-granted part of my daily routine?

It is true.  We human beings seem to be hard-wired to accustom ourselves to the most terrifying and breath-taking experiences.  With time, even Moses' face ceased to shine from his encounters with God.

I think that is why God constructed memory to work in the particular way it does. We may forget, but we are also and always capable of remembering.  And that remembering has the power to bring us back to our forgotten experiences of awe.

My blessing for your weekend is this: may God's majesty overshadow your work, your rest and your worship.  May your soul grow silent before the transcendent power and compassion of the Almighty and bless you with a deep awareness of our Redeemer's sovereign love.

Blessings,

Mark

Photo Credit: Mark Grace