Hello cats and kitties and welcome to the smoothest blog on the planet. It features some sweet axe-men and some dudes who will blow your top!!! This is the place where you can catch some hot plates and air-checks that will ring your bell all the way back to your crib. We don't feature any cornballs or clinkers in this scene. All we got 'round here is out of this world chops and blowers that will bring you to your feet. So get ready for the smoothness to commence as we got us a hit from the early 70s up in here that features all kinds of tubs, licorice sticks, jazz boxes, and horns that are supermurgitroid! So ease on back in your pad and get ready as we lay some sides on your plate that you gonna enjoy. And it all starts right now...
"Hill Where the Lord Hides" is the first of 7 top 40 hits on the Billboard Charts for Chuck Mangione and his cadre of musicians. It peaked at #32 on the Hot 100 and substantiated Mangione as a musician that could produce jazz sounds that would satisfy the musical tastes of folks across the spectrum of genre. It started a trek that would take him all the way to #1 on 2 different occasions. (May 12, 1978, with "Feels So Good" (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Feels So Good" (Chuck Mangione)) and February 22, 1980, with "Give it all You Got")
"Hill Where the Lord Hides" is the first track from the live, Grammy-nominated double album, Friends and Love. This groundbreaking album was written and orchestrated by Mangione, who singlehandedly brought flugelhorn playing into prominence and the public eye. Mangione also serves as the conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic orchestra who accompanied him on the recording. This was quite a feat for a 29-year-old jazz instrumentalist. That's right! Not only is Friends and Love turning 50 this year, but Chuck Mangione will turn 80 in November of this year.
If there were a hill where the Lord hides, it would probably be Mount Sinai. It is a mountain that is considered holy by Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Its location has been debated, but based on the Biblical text of the Exodus, it would be somewhere towards the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. (Highlighted by the dotted line circle towards the bottom of this map.
Again, based on the Biblical description of where the new nation of Israel was traveling, this location makes the best sense. Let's pick up the story...
While there weren't any flugelhorns, many trumpets were heard in our passage as God revealed Himself to the Israelites. Other than the leading of the cloud by day and fire by night, the Israelites had not experienced such a moment in the three months they had been traveling. Once they got settled at the base, Moses heads up the mountain. There God reiterates the covenant that He had made with Abraham asserting the Israelites as the chosen people. Moses treks back to the Israeli leadership and relays the message. The leaders then verify their side of the covenant and Moses takes their commitment back to Him. God then tells Moses to get the Children of Israel prepared as He intends to allow them to listen in on the next conversation that He has with Moses. God says he wants to authenticate Moses in the people's eyes and wants them to have a Holy encounter in the process. For three days, the people of Israel prepare themselves to meet with God. They cleaned their clothing and committed to not having intimate relationships during this time. Physical boundaries were set around the base of the mountain so that no one (including the livestock) would touch it in any way while God was there. The punishment for this disobedience was death by arrows or stoning. While this may seem severe, it goes to show the attitude they were to have and the import of what was about to happen between them and God.
Moses goes back up and God begins to speak directly to Israel. This is the first of 3 times the Israelites will be given the Ten Commandments. (More on that to come...) They heard the commands directly from God's mouth. These directives would become the moral code by which they would live and serve as much of the basis for our own modern law.
I wonder what would happen if we took three days to prepare for an encounter with God. Honestly, do we take any time at all to prepare to be in His presence? Since, Jesus ascension and the sending of Holy Spirit, we have a very different relationship than the Israelites as we have a continual encounter with God through Holy Spirit living in us. But do we act like we are having an encounter with God? Are we clean? Are our hearts stirred, do we stand at attention, and do we shudder with fear as we encounter God through Holy Spirit and allow Him to change us every day to be more like Jesus? What is our attitude as we wake each morning...are we like Fred the baker? "Time to Make the Donuts" - Dunkin Donuts commercial eagerly looking forward to our day with God or are we more likely to resist anything other than the snooze button...5-Hour Energy Commercial 2011 "I don't wanna get up..."
There was preparation put into place before the Children of Israel could encounter God and accept His direction in the form of the Ten Commandments. Even with Holy Spirit's guidance, one would think we would also need to be prepared. What does that look like? Do we wash our clothes? Do we clean our closets? Do we rid our lives of the clutter we so easily amass? Sure, figuratively speaking, why not?
Let's face it. We are surrounded by external noise from the moment we get up to make the donuts until we lay our head on the pillow at night. Our communication with God can be interrupted and distanced to the point that it becomes difficult to hear from Him. To adequately be prepared for our day with God, we must communicate with Him in the best way we can, through His Word. This takes the same dedication that the Israelites displayed when they went to get three months of desert off of them. Here are a great article and an incredible website with some insight into how to have a more meaningful day with Jesus.
If you have never had a time in your life where you have experienced God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit take a moment and ponder what that encounter might look like, and what your response would be. Please don't take too long, as just like the Pharaoh, God could allow you to remain in your current state. Romans 1:28-32 NASB/The Message/KJV
Everyone at one time or another will have a God encounter. Yours may not be in the form of trumpets and clouds on a mountain, but an occurrence of God's presence in your life will happen. Will you be prepared for that occurrence? Your reaction to God during that time is very important, in fact it has the potential to be life-changing!
As we continue to face the uncertainty of 2020, we must have a focus in our life that is founded on the presence of God in our lives. That presence comes in the form of Holy Spirit who leads our paths and breaks through the clutter that can so easily drag us down. To have the best day with Jesus we must be clean, fearful, and have our hearts stirred. This will prepare us to encounter God as we approach the hill where the Lord hides...
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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