WHISPERS ON THE MOUNTAINS
- a tribute to the bravehearts -
Rolling over the hills. The whispers of secrets told only to the Heavens.
When the safe places are few, when the words are too sore to tell. When faith holds confession tightly pressed inwards. When secrets become whispers heaven-bound. Rolling over mountains. They are unseen, mostly.
Not all secrets are bad.
Some are wise if they’re turned Heavenward.
Whispered prayers cast upon open skies effortlessly caress imposing and intimidating terrain. Howling winds of spiritual warfare churning in the open spaces tossed upwards and curling Heaven’s way with each troublesome peak. If only that summit knew it ultimately served the purpose of thrusting my plea into the strong arms of my rescuer.
Psalm 121: 1-2
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
A burden is not carried easily alone. The brute ox was always paired with a companion. No matter what his personal strength may have been, his speed, his accuracy, and his endurance were synergistically multiplied when accompanied by another.
I choose my other. I choose wisely.
Some landscapes are mountainous – navigated successfully only with the assistance of an experienced companion. Him. The Maker. The One unmoved by circumstance. The One who authored and finished your faith. He is able.
There is a Grace for you. You, just you. You can do this. Your capacity is greater than you imagine when you are in tune with the unique Grace for your life.
It’s not striving. You might be a high-capacity person. Gifted, driven, skilled, and capable in your own strength. You might be the kind of person who gets things done.
Able to achieve great feats, and leap tall mountains. But you know better than anyone, that alone your capacity is limited. Your capacity is often drawn in solace. It may be large, but it has a limit. A type of striving that doesn’t even come close to what you can accomplish in the flow of Grace that is assigned to you personally alongside Him.
I caution you though – because passivity is all too often prescribed as striving’s counterpart; and wrongly so. Striving is not cured by passivity. It may be pacified with inaction, but not cured.
Striving is cured by Grace.
Grace is not passive.
An investment of self is the precursor for any sense of execution. Work is not bad, if it is rooted in Grace – the unforced rhythm of Grace.
It is work to face a giant and heave a stone, young David. It is work to march down a fortified wall, Joshua. It is work to part a sea, Moses, and walk on water, Peter. It is work to exercise your faith, my friend. And it is a work of Grace that allows you “to live freely and lightly”.
Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)
28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
His strength makes up any weakness in our humanity. Take your burden there. To Him. He will bear the load with you. His faithful strong arm – put your burden there. When safe places are rare and your back is sore, take the load to Him. He’s got you.
Choose your other. Choose wisely.
Him. The Maker.
Whisper His promises back to Him as you plough the soil side-by-side. What is a prayer but a confession of truth? Like a double-dare thrown at God. He is not a man that He would lie or a son of man that He would change His mind (Numbers 23:19). If He said it He will do it, so remind Him and yourself, and your mountain of exactly what it was He said. He promised your wholeness, your redemption, your victory.
He loves the sound of your voice.
He loves the sound of His promise in your voice.
“I double-dog-dare you to keep Your Word. Remember that thing You said? I read today as scripture, and You must have recorded it to allow me to remind You. Well here I am and I'm asking You to prove Yourself strong (2 Chron 16:9). My load is too great. I choose You. Again and again, I choose You. Hear my whispered secrets and prove Yourself strong.”
When the enemy whispers taunts through circumstances, reports and challenges, you’d better have a come back (Matt 4:1-11). A trump card. The only thing more powerful than a lie is the truth. His truth. Not yours. Not the liar’s. His. The Maker.
So let your whispers blow. Whisper that confession into the companion’s ear. Let the whisper’s breath unsettle the dust and stir the atmosphere.
Watching on, I may not decipher the words on your moving lips, because your secret is not mine to know, but I can hear a whistle on the breeze. I can see the earth ploughed behind you. I can see the swirling dust before you and the swaying of the once-lazy grass now disrupted. Something is taking place. A reckoning. I know you’re doing business.
One day, not long from now, we’ll sing the melody. No, the war cry which turned into a victory shout. You’ll teach me the soothing tune of the lullaby He sung over you as you worked together. One day, when the mountain lays flat and the crooked paths are straight (Ps 97:5, Is 45: 2), there will be words to the story and cause for celebration. I will listen with eager thanks. I will sing with you in your victory. Your victory will be mine too. You will teach me again the goodness of His love.
For now, I am inspired watching the swirling winds wrap that ominous mountain before you, because I know the fight which is within that wind. I am amazed as I watch you bear the load like that. Proud to know that the burden is not in vain, not alone. Back increasing in strength and resolve being steeled within the bones, I know Heaven hears the whispers and the companion load-bearer is up for the fight.
Not all secrets are bad if they are turned Heavenward.
Remind that mountain who is Lord.
Even a whisper can do that.
