The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. – Psalm 97:5

Today's Scripture Reading (August 21, 2022): Psalm 97

K2 is a mountain that exists in the Karakoram range. K2 is found on the border of Pakistan and China, with the mountain located partially in both countries. It gets its name from a notation on the Great Trigonometrical Survey of British India; a project started in 1802 to survey the Indian subcontinent with scientific precision. Thomas Montgomery had explored the Karakorum mountain range from Mount Haramukh about 200 km to the South of K2. He had labeled the two most prominent peaks as K1 and K2 (for Karakoram 1 and Karakoram 2). K1 was later renamed or became associated with the name Masherbrum because that was the local name of the mountain. But K2 continued to be identified by the name K2. The problem was that we normally call the mountains whatever the locals call the mountain, which was why K1 had been renamed Masherbrum. We don't rename mountains that already have a local name. But K2 seemed to be an unknown mountain. The mountain was not visible from either the closest town or the closest spot visited by humans. Because it didn't have a local name, Mount Godwin-Austen was suggested for the mountain, naming it after an early explorer in the region, Henry Godwin-Austen. But the name didn't take, and so it has remained K2.

K2 is not the highest mountain in the world; although it is the second highest after Mount Everest, it is considered the toughest mountain to climb. Only a few people have made it to the summit, and the first climbers to make it to the summit of the mountain were Italians Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagni in 1954. K2 was the last 8,000+ meter peak to be summitted in the winter in 2021, and it is the only 8,000+ meter mountain to have never been summitted from the east side of the mountain. Even today, K2 is simply a tough mountain to climb   

Mountains have long been an irresistible challenge to human adventurers. Throughout history, many lives have been lost trying to defeat the mountains of the earth. And yet we still try. But that is not a problem for God. We might not be able to conquer the mountains easily, but they melt in the presence of our God. Charles Spurgeon sums up this thought with these words.

"Men cannot move the hills, with difficulty do they climb them, with incredible toil do they pierce their way through their fastnesses, but it is not so with the Lord, his presence makes a clear pathway, obstacles disappear, a highway is made, and that not by his hand as though it cost him pains, but by his mere presence, for power goes forth from him with a word or a glance" (Charles Spurgeon).

That last phrase is the important one. The mountains melt before the presence of God because power goes forth from him with a word or glance. And sometimes, even that is not needed. The power exudes from God because that is part of who he is. The Psalmist knew that nothing could defeat him as long as God's presence was with him. It is only when we have driven the presence of God away from us that we can be defeated by the enemy

Today's Scripture Reading: Psalms 98 & 99