May 5, 2017: Day 125 – Psalm 125

So when we lived in Florida there really were no mountains around.  It was wonderfully flat and so I loved to go to the Ravines and run.  Here is a link to the Ravine State Park in Palatka, Florida: https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Ravine-Gardens

You can’t tell from the pictures but there is a loop around the park which is a few miles and it is incredibly steep and hilly.  It was the closest thing to a mountain that I could find to train on.  I needed mountains.  Then just a few years ago as I was training for the half ironman I had to find mountains, or at least steep hills, in order to train for the bicycling.  I can’t tell you how helpful that was because when the race came around the course proved to be much less hilly than my training runs.  I wish I could say the same for the running.

Here, the psalmist is giving thanks for the mountains that are surrounding Jerusalem.  We normally see mountains as obstacles, as things which need to be moved, but here in this psalm the author sees it as a place of refuge and protection.  As vs. 2 tells us, just as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people.  It is quite awe inspiring to drive into Jerusalem as you make your way either over a mountain or through a tunnel which has been cut through a mountain.  The city itself does gleam on a hill.