When I was fifteen, our youth group went on a twenty-one-mile backpacking trip. At one point, we found ourselves standing at the top of a 2,000-foot sheer cliff. My pastor was hamming it up for the camera and stood on one foot waving his arms around as though he were about to fall to his death.
Hilarious, right?
Well, it did make for a humorous photo. But even as a teenager and the one taking the picture, I remember thinking about his pregnant wife at home and wondering what she and their baby would do if he slipped and died while goofing off with us.
Now, the story ends well. Our pastor had several feet of room before the rock fell away to that wicked drop, and he didn’t actually stumble. His son grew up with a dad’s love and care and is now a dad himself.
But that moment reminds me of the theme verse I chose when writing Spider Gap. Which incidentally, takes place on that very same hiking trail.
“The LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.”
Psalm 147:11
The fear of the Lord can be a baffling concept. Doesn’t God say that He loves us deeply, enough to chase after us as if we were the only lost sheep in the whole flock? Enough to die for us? Yes, yes it does! God’s incredible love for us is such a vital thing to remember. Don’t forget it!
Besides remembering, resting in, and reciprocating God’s love for us, we are also instructed to “Fear the Lord.”
Huh?
Not sure about you, but I generally don’t show a whole lot of love for people or even animals that I fear. I fear spiders. I don’t really love them, though. The people that I fear … loving them is an even more weighty thought to consider and a topic for another blog post.
Fear and love, two things that I normally don’t pair.
But the mountains, the vast majesty of the mountains help me to understand the value of “The Fear of the Lord.”
The wilderness is dangerous. Did you know that? Not cruel or evil, but dangerous. Mountains especially are dangerous places. Now, they are not trying to be deadly. But if they were safer and more like meadows and ponds … they wouldn’t be mountains anymore.
If you stumble while walking the narrow trails through the mountains, you can literally trip right off a 2,000-foot cliff and die a moment later. If you don’t pack the right clothes, food, or shelter; you can die of exposure in a single night. If you act in a foolish way around wildlife, you can meet your end swiftly. If you simply read your map wrong and head in the opposite direction, you can be walking so long and so far that no one ever finds you.
The mountains are dangerous. A smart person fears them even if they deeply love the mountains and trekking through their glorious beauty.
I love the mountains all the more because of their sharp, dangerous heights. I love the remote stretches of untouched forest. I love that rare wildlife lurk within them. I love the blast of alpine wind as you finally make it to the top of a vigorous climb and survey the land rolling away to the horizon.
If the mountains were not dangerous, they would not be mountains.
It is the same with God.
If He were not powerful, unknowable, vast in His understanding and strength … He would not be God. When I fear Him, I respect that He is God and I am not. I step back and am amazed by His strength. Like standing outside in the middle of a mighty storm, I relish the unknowable nature of God. It fills me with wonder that One so mighty loves me so very deeply.
Do not be satisfied with a God of meadows, ponds, and cleanly manicured lawns.
God is also a God of mountains. A God of howling wolves and shaggy bears. A God of thunderstorms and a God of twisty trails that lead to the top of 2,000-foot cliffs.
Spider Gap–Lilly, a first-year school teacher is roped into chaperoning a backpacking trip over the Spider Gap glacier. Unfortunately, she cannot find a sitter for her purse-dog and must smuggle him along on the trip. All her friskiest 6th-grade students are participating as well as a handsome ski instructor who resists her efforts to organize their trip in a mathematically pleasing manner. Can Lilly evoke a thirst for learning within her skeptical students, when she herself can barely survive the rigors of the trail?
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Kristen Joy Wilks is an author, camp photographer, and the mom of three rowdy boys. When Kristen is not shooing pet chickens out of the house, she loves to write about the humor and grace that can be found hidden amidst the detritus of life. Much like the shiny quarter one member of their household swallowed and then found in the pot four days later. If God is good enough to grant us these gems, she figures that someone should be putting them to the page.
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Follow Kristen on Instagram, Facebook, or try one of her chicken-themed books for free by signing up for her newsletter at kristenjoywilks.com