The start of a new year has many of us seeking a word from the Lord for this year. Really, we want to know “What does this year look like?”. It reminds me of our five-year-old daughter. When she hears about something new- whether it’s a platypus or a new place we’re going- her first question is always “can I see a picture of it?”. We’re designed this way. “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction” (Prov. 29:18 NIV). We need vision because what we look to, we steer to. In Strong’s Concordance 2025 connects with two words. The first is the Hebrew harel meaning "mountain of God". It denotes “places of divine encounter and revelation”. 2025 is also connected to the Greek epichrió meaning “to anoint”. There is an invitation this year to encounter the Lord in a way that is two-fold. First, a discarding of false images of the Lord that we’ve leaned on. This shaking and stripping is for the purpose of a fresh encounter with the Lord that imprints (smears, anoints) the identity of Jesus on our hearts. Us being further conformed to His image.
False Images
While the concept of idols to many of us is more abstract rather than an actual carved image, the basic understanding is condensing God into an image that we understand. Idols happened in many ways Biblically that I feel the Lord is inviting us to learn from and look for in our own lives.
First, idols appear as shortcuts. Seasons of waiting on the Lord are difficult, as Aaron found in Exodus 32. The pressure for answers causes us to choose- will we stand on the Word of the Lord or will we opt for creating our own answers (like the Golden Calf). Seasons of waiting may feel very still and inactive, but there is much going on under the surface. On the mountain of encounter, Moses was receiving downloads for the next season but because the message had not yet reached the people, they created a false image of God. Don’t let the wait obscure the image of who the Lord is. Don’t take the bait of a self-reliant shortcut. Wait for the Words on the mountain of encounter.
Second, idols can come through alliances. I was struck yesterday reading Judges 17. The commentary calls it “the beginning of idolatry in Israel, Micah and his mother”. It’s a strange story. Micah’s mother (who, reading between the lines, had come to idolize her silver), “consecrated it to the Lord” and had an image made for Micah which he kept in his house. This was a clear violation of the commandments, but perhaps she had justified it because it was done in an attempt to honor the Lord. When a Levite shows up at his door and Micah makes him his household priest, the Levite adopts the image also. Then when the Danites eventually come and take over the land, the eerie conclusion is “They continued to use the idol Micah had made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.” (Judges 18:31 NIV). The Danites likely never knew Micah’s mother, yet they ended up tangled in the same idol because it came through a Levite- a trusted source. Idols, similarly, can come through our families, our traditions, or our cultures, or other alignments, and we become blind to them because they come lumped in with things of the Lord. But Micah would have seen past his false image if He had remembered the Words from Moses on the mountain of encounter. The only way to shake off these images and be reminded and restored of God’s actual heart is to remember the Words from the mountain of encounter.
Third, idols come through transactions. One of the most impactful moments for me in cross-cultural ministry was when a former animist pointed out to me that she had been so struck by the heart of God because “God is the only one who gives freely as a gift”. I realized just how many false God and other religions were predicated on a transaction of making an offering to get a desired result. We tend to like to fit God in a mold (image) because it masks our attempt to control. False images (idols) happens when we try to fit God into a system of “if I do this, God will do this”. The antidote to this is surrender and posturing to receive. When we are fully aware of God’s out-of-the-box ability in our situation and when we are postured to receive from Him His wisdom (because we know it’s likely not what we could expect or deduce), we become our least capable yet our most strong.
Some of you reading this may be in a season you’d describe as “shaking”. While God doesn’t author most of the earthquakes in our lives, He promises that when we build on Him, we will be able to stand through it. Like a good wheat harvest being shaken, the shaking of the world only separates the chaff- what was a shell, dead, and unfit for food. It keeps the grain. It keeps the seed. It keeps what is useful and nourishing.
There is a love of God that is calling us away from what isn’t serving us and is actually making us unsteady! At a birthday party for our oldest son’s friend, I was watching all the preteen boys cruise around the rollerskating rink. By the end of the party, they had gotten pretty confident on their wheels, but for fun a couple of the boys grabbed the walkers with wheels meant to steady beginners. They proceeded to race them but quickly found the walkers slowed them down and even ended up tripping them. I felt the Lord say that we have things we are putting weight on that are slowing us down- even tripping us up. He wants to take the walker away- the things we are leaning on- not to slow us down or trip us up- but actually because we will be unencumbered and free to put full weight on His Words. Just like the paralytic being told to get up and take his mat, it is not until we put our full weight on the Word that the miraculous happens and we see the true heart of God.
This is your year of encounter on the mountain. To hear what the Lord wants to build. Because every meeting on the mountain- from Moses to the Transfiguration- came with a deeper revelation of a way of life that would foster intimacy with the Trinity. Like Peter, sometimes we take a mountain encounter and try to build structure for it. Move of God cannot be contained by our structures. The true purpose of the Mountain encounter is to realign our vision with the image of Jesus in order that we are equipped for all that awaits us when we come back down.
Encounter questions:
Lord, what Words do I need to stand on or remember that will bring me freedom?
Holy Spirit, what false images have I made of you that you want to restore to your true character?
Jesus, what part of your identity do you want to smear me with (anoint me with) to bring to the world waiting at the foot of my mountain of encounter?
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