It takes a lot of heat to melt a mountain!
Located in New Mexico’s San Andres mountains is a place called the White Sands Missile Range. It’s where the US conducted its initial test of a device referred to only as “The Gadget” – a plutonium bomb that would change the course of history and bring World War II to a close. The Atomic Age began on July 16, 1945 at 0529 Mountain Time with the first detonation of an atomic weapon in recorded history. The resultant heat was so intense that sand was pulled up from the ground into the heart of the explosion and liquefied. The mountain had melted.
North Korea’s largest and most recent nuclear test in 2017 caused massive horizontal displacement and pushed the side of the mountain in which the underground test was conducted outward by as much a 3.5 meters. It also melted the inside of the mountain and collapsed the peak by half a meter.
Mountains also melt when God shows up! Today’s verse describes it:
THE MOUNTAINS MELT LIKE WAX BEFORE THE LORD
Elsewhere in the psalms, David wrote that God is a fortress, a stronghold and deliverer. He is our shield, in whom we can take refuge. He subdues peoples. When David was in distress from an impending attack, he called upon God to part the heavens and come down; to touch the mountains, so that they smoke and burn with intense fire.
We don’t know who wrote Psalm 97, which is where today’s verse is taken from. It may have been David, or it may have been written after the Israelites returned to Jerusalem from their exile in Babylon. But we DO KNOW that it proclaims the kingship of God.
The LORD reigns. And therefore the earth can rejoice in His rulership.
I find it interesting that the codename for the initial detonation was “TRINITY.” It was perhaps some sort of recognition of the immense power of God, and the biblical references to His melting of mountains. We’ll never know for sure, because the man who chose the name claimed he could not recall why he selected it.
We do well to recall the immense power of God. But His power is not random. The writer of Psalm 97 reminds us that he guards the lives of His faithful ones. He is our shield. We are HIS “Trinity Project.”
We who walk in HIs presence can rejoice and be glad. We are instructed to rejoice in the Lord, we who are righteous, and praise His holy name.
He is awesome and powerful. He is loving and faithful.
THE MOUNTAINS MELT LIKE WAX BEFORE THE LORD
