Meditations – Top of the Hill

In our neighborhood we used to play a game called top of the hill, most likely it had many other names (King of the Mountain), each with a slightly different set of rules.  The only equipment required, aside from a group of kids, was a  rounded snow bank or a summer dirt hill, plentiful in our area.

The goal was to get to the top of the hill and stay there, to be the last man standing.  Everyone in the game would try their best to remove you from the top in whatever way they could, and then move into that position themselves.  It seems that this game is still played today, only on a much larger scale. 

In Isaiah 42:8 it reads “I am the LORD; I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.“  This  scripture was mentioned in the latest sermon and generated a few ideas after meditating on it...thoughts like we all want to be on top of some hill, in some way or another, but it often leads to the same scenario, albeit on a smaller scale, like the one currently being played out in Libya.  Kadhafi has been on the top of the Libyan hill for many years by using mostly fear/torture and military might.  If he is thrown off the hill,  I wonder who will be next to ascend to the top. It has a lot to do with pride, doesn’t it?.   God gives leaders power for a time, but only for a time.

Pride seems to get itself in everywhere, pouring itself into every opportunistic crack.  For example, I was meditating on the reasons why God had not given me a ‘Brother Lawrence experience’, a Carmelite monk who lived in Paris, who I admired very much; you might call him a hero of mine. His miracle was in the form of a revelation powerful enough to change his life at the age of 18, like Saul’s experience in the book of Acts (9) which had the power to change his life forever.   So here we have Brother Lawrence, uneducated, awkward, could not walk very well-- he kind of used rolling motions in some situations to get from one place to another on the deck of a ship, clumsy eh?  Doesn’t sound like the action heroes of our present day movies, does it?   So I was asked God the age old selfish question, WHY Not Me?  I think the answer was located in the same sermon mentioned above, a scripture from Isaiah 66:1-3.  It reads like this:

"Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?"  The answer is with the humble,  not those glorying in what they can do.

Looking  a little deeper, the sermon suggests that we should not just be looking for a visitation; we should be looking for God and where he rests.  Does scripture not plainly say that He is with the humble… think about it. 

Is it possible that I did not get my Brother Lawrence experience because of pride, lack of effort or was it some other reason, but let us assume it is pride.  Notice I did not tell you what that experience was, you must dig for it yourself if you don’t know and are interested.  The internet has his story.

It seems that the top of hill referred to earlier is where pride finds a home.  It is the same gang, always bragging or boasting about something or other, always trying to bolster it’s self esteem using force of some kind.  If it is true that everything I have today is from the Lord, what a waste of time it is bolster me so I can brag as if I created something.  I remember that it was Pastor Arlo’s prayer for Westside that humility is infused into the body.  This is a great prayer for those who are forward looking, finding something valuable in God’s treasure house, precious wisdom and knowledge; most people look in their back pocket for the same and find nothing in the long run.  The cost of discovery is everything but the real reward is priceless.