When The Mountains Skipped

Psalm 114

Have you ever seen something so spectacular that you just wanted to jump up and shout out your excitement?  Perhaps it was at a sports event, and your team just made an unbelievable score, winning the game against tremendous odds.  Maybe you heard an astounding rendition of a favorite symphony, and you wanted to heartily applaud the orchestra, or a wonderful performance on stage.  It’s especially moving if your child or loved one took part in the performance. How about when it is God we want to cheer? Our short psalm for today speaks of all of nature giving God a cheer for what He has done.

Our unknown Psalmist began his psalm telling of the greatest event to that date in the nation of Israel’s history, the greatest thing that God had done for His people, which was His deliverance from bondage in Egypt, and the parting of the Red Sea (vs. 1).  God brought the people across the wilderness, and gave them the land of Canaan, the land that He had promised their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (vs. 2). Not only was this land the land that He gave to His people, it was the land where the Temple was, and where His Presence dwelt.

The psalmist used very poetic language throughout his writing to describe all he felt about God and the great things He did.  Verse 3 described God having parted the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21-22), and then 40 years later when He parted the Jordan River for the people to enter the Promised Land (Joshua 3:13-17).   He described both the Red Sea and the River Jordan as taking a look at mighty Yahweh, and fleeing back, parting at His command (vs. 3, 5). When the people came into their promised land and heritage, he again used very poetic language to describe the mountains and hills like lambs and rams frolicking and skipping (vs. 4, 6).  I have seen some cute videos of little baby goats skipping and frolicking around. They look so happy and playful! That is the way the psalmist described that natural land, as if they were rejoicing and happy at what Yahweh had done, skipping in delightful praise to Him.

The psalmist then spoke to the physical earth, telling it that it should tremble at the presence of the Lord God (vs. 7).  We sometimes tremble when we are afraid. Trembling in the Bible describes genuine fear in the overwhelming presence of God.  To tremble at God’s presence means to recognize God’s complete power and authority, and our frailty by comparison. Mankind can tremble in fear of God because of their sinfulness.  After we have accepted Jesus as Savior, our fear becomes a worshipful reverence, and praise for God’s glory. That fear can also bring a trembling. Believers can find joy in God’s presence, which will lead us to fall before Him in adoration and worship.

We can sometimes see, as we look around, the world tremble at the presence of the Lord.  Mount Sinai trembled before God when He appeared there to give Moses the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19:16-18).  When we see the majesty of nature, we should, like the mountains, oceans, and all of creation, give praise and glory to God’s greatness.

The psalmist concluded this short psalm in verse 8 with a reference to when God brought water out of the rock for the people (Exodus 17:5-6, Numbers 20:7-11).  This was an additional example from nature where God did something great and astounding that the psalmist wanted us to remember. There is nothing drier than a rock or boulder in the desert wilderness.  Yet God brought water out of a rock to quench the thirst of multitudes.

Today, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, can point to His death on the cross for our sins, and His resurrection from the dead as the greatest event in human history.  Just as the Jewish people were set free from slavery at the Exodus from Egypt, those who have placed their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior have been delivered from the power of sin and death.  Just as the waters looked at the power of God and parted at His command, the rock covering Jesus’ tomb rolled away. All of nature can again rejoice like frolicking lambs at the knowledge that He’s alive! Let us, with nature, rejoice in our amazing and extraordinary God.