High Places

I had a mountain-top experience this past week, thanks to our church family who gave us a gift certificate for two nights at the wonderful Stonehame Chalets on Fitzpatrick Mountain near Scotsburn, Nova Scotia. Beautiful eh!

The certificate was actually a gift last year, but an early ice storm prevented us from using it then, so we used it for our anniversary this year.

I like high places. I’m thinking that you can relate. There’s just something about being up there.

In ancient times, mountains were believed to be sacred places. Mount Sinai comes to mind for example. It was called ‘the holy mountain’. ‘Holy men’ always seemed to have a mountain, whether it was Moses, or Elijah, or Jesus when He took His disciples up the mountain to pray and was there transfigured before their very eyes when they heard a voice from heaven and saw two other men there with Him. Who were they? Why, they were Moses and Elijah! Go figure!

Then there were the ‘high places’ that seemed to be everywhere throughout the land of Canaan, that were dedicated to the worship of various Canaanite deities; those places which seemed to have such an allure for the Israelites that they ended up being led into the idolatry that resulted in their exile from the land. There is something alluring about a high place; something about ascending to a peak or a ridge, that creates in us a feeling which we seem to have a longing for.


When Florence and I were in Athens this past winter (on Sabbatical) this was the night view from the rooftop of the hotel where we stayed; the Hotel Attalos.

I had always identified the Acropolis with Athens only. I hadn’t realized that the word simply means ‘hill’ and that ancient peoples tended to build temples on every hill they could find. For example, I got a picture of the acropolis at Corinth. Prior to this, I hadn’t even known that such existed. I knew there had been temples there but...

High places seem somehow to be holy places; places of worship. I know, as a Christian, that the true God is present everywhere, and that we don’t need to go anywhere to worship Him (Jn 4). He is just as present in the world of the microscope as He is in the world of the telescope. And the New Testament makes it very clear that we are His temple (1Cor 3). But I still like high places.

Mountains make great places of worship. They make great places to get away to; great places to think and to pray, and to allow God to lift us up, to rise above it all, even if only for a time so that our problems don’t seem quite as big and our God seems a whole lot bigger. They are places of revelation and truth. Places we can retreat to and sort things out; where we can seek God and get reoriented to His perspective on our lives.

I think for the Christian, the mountains call to us to lift up our eyes to God. Have you ever noticed how every single mountain, every high place, points in the same direction?!

I am reminded of a saying I heard one time. It went like this:

If you want to be distressed, look within
If you want to be defeated, look back
If you want to be distracted, look around
If you want to be dismayed, look ahead
If you want to be delivered, look up!

There is definitely something basic and yet totally profound about all of this. If you want to be delivered, look up.

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
Psalm 121