There is nothing our family enjoys more than a good old-fashioned challenge, especially when it comes to trivia games. We are competitive by nature, and many family vacations have brought us nightly contests like guys against girls, parents taking on the kids, etc. We love when the questions are clever and obscure, hoping against hope and crossing fingers that the opposing team will slip up and not catch the trick in the question. Recently, a question came up and was phrased like this:
“Before Mt Everest was discovered, what was the highest point on the earth?”
The answer is, of course: Mt Everest. It was still the highest regardless of its discovery or acknowledgment didn’t change its status.
The irony of the phrasing of this trivia question doesn’t escape my attention. It offers to teach us a deeper truth when applied to Psalm 91. If I were to ask folks what the highest spiritual authority they know of is, I would receive many answers. They might range from “my local priest or pastor, the Pope or Dalai Lama.” One time I asked a person what she believed the strongest force in the world was, and she replied, “Mother Nature.” We all have heard people, or you might personally refer to God as “the man upstairs, the Big Guy.” For many people, the terms aren’t meant to be disrespectful but often reveal the cultural standard that God is more of a partner, a colleague that will remain passively shallow and only called on when backs are against the proverbial wall, and a spiritual first responder is sought. While this casual belief may be adopted as truth, it indeed is not based on the scriptural revelation of who God is. Some even think God has the last name and that it profanely begins with the letter D. The supremacy of God has been under attack from the beginning of time, and in our current culture, He is an afterthought if He is even acknowledged.
For the sake of comparison, God is like Mt Everest. He is the highest regardless of discovery or acknowledgment. He doesn’t become higher as mankind understands Him more; He is God the Most High. The Hebrew name is El or Elyon. The Highest of all.
In his post anointed pre-reign days, the shepherd boy, David, declared Goliath a pagan because the giant defied the armies of the Living God, the Lord of hosts. The prophet Isaiah in Is. 6 depicts God as “the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple, And this Most Highness was manifested in flesh when Jesus came to earth.
Philippians 2:9-11 “Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far above anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth-even those long ago dead and buried- will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ and call out in praise that He is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father
The Psalmist in 91 promises, “Whoever dwells with the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” This implies that the soul; who understands this Most High authority and submits, worships, and clings, will find rest. The psalmist draws a word picture of a relationship that is based on a truthful perspective of who God is and who they are. A person who dwells with the Most High grasps that there is no other place of rest that can be found other than with God, the Most High. Despite that the Psalm promises rest, it is born out of a heart of worship. Worship demonstrates that I have my priorities straight. It reveals that I acknowledge God is worthy of worship, and at the very heart, there is no other that even comes close to Him. God is not relatively high, somewhat high, partially high; He is the Most High. A life lived out from this fundamental truth has nothing to fear and can result in the heart of peace, a joyful spirit, and a mouth filled with praise.
At times I find my worship flat and my peace fleeting. It is always, and I always mean, the result of allowing other things to climb to a higher status than they are entitled to. Sometimes I just have to confess out loud, “Lord, you are the highest of all, above everything. You are Higher and have more power than any trouble or worry I face. You were High before the beginning. It is your rightful place whether I acknowledge it or not. Forgive me, Lord, for letting other things creep in like kudzu that crowd out my thoughts of you and try and move into the space that you alone are worthy to occupy.
How awesome is it that we are in the hands and the care of the Most High God every moment, every breath? How encouraging that while God is above all else, He communes with me and calls me His friend? How reassuring is it that there is absolutely nothing in existence that is not under His authority? Take comfort that we serve the Most High God and the whole earth is full of His Glory!
Come back to the vineyard, where next time the 5 o’clock worker examines,
“The Nest Of Rest.”
5oclockworker.com 