“There is no such thing as darkness with you. The night, to you, is as bright as the day; there’s no difference between the two.” (Ps 139:12 TPT)
I took the two photos above from almost the same angle; one in the spring, and one in the summer of 2018. Both were taken on completely cloud-free days. Both photos feature the Golden Ears mountain range, which is the backdrop to my home.
Yet, they are different. What changed? Only the atmosphere. My view of the mountains has for many weeks been obscured, due to hundreds of forest fires burning farther up the valley and into the interior. The core subject matter of the photos however, remains unchanged. The mountains are ever-present in both photos, the smoke has just hidden them from view in one.
On the day I took the second photo, I was lamenting to God that I missed the mountains, and His quiet reply was: “They’re still there.” I was about to dismiss His comment with a sarcastic remark, but then Jesus placed His hand on my heart, looked me in the eye and said again: “They’re still there.”
Love the learning. I knew in an instant, both the truth in His words and more importantly, the relevance His comment had to the current circumstances I was walking through. Normally when I feel called into deep reflection, I go for a walk around my neighbourhood where I can view those mountains. However, this day the thick smoke was both obscuring the view and aggravating my allergies, so I sat down in my favourite chair that faces them and explored what He had placed in my heart.
God’s view of us doesn’t change – who we are, how He made us, His love for us, who we are becoming, what upgrades and gifts He has for us, remains the same. Our circumstances may change – from clear skies to smoky and back again – but that does not change who we are and how He made us. We are forever fixed upon the rock – Jesus – that He placed us in.
The atmosphere doesn’t change the mountains. It might hide them, or dust them with snow, or soak them in rain, or light them on a radiantly clear day, but the mountain remains a mountain. It doesn’t turn into Jell-O or transform into a desert, or suddenly become a plateau. We believe and know – even without seeing – that the mountain remains exactly where and what it is.
So too we can be encouraged to remember and declare our own identities when the atmosphere around us changes. To bring our focus back to the One who loves us most of all and who we are becoming, and declare aloud to Him: “I am Yours, forever loved, unchanged in how You made me. Thank you, Papa, that you cherish me constantly in your every thought. Lead me back to your glorious, everlasting ways – the path that brings me back to you.”
Warrior Commission Member,
Kern Pegg
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