The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.
PSALM 104:18 ESV
Mountain goats live high in the mountains of western North America, and they are uniquely designed for life on steep, rocky slopes. Their white, double-layered winter coats hold heat but repel wind and water, so they can tolerate high winds and temperatures down to minus fifty degrees Fahrenheit. They eat a wide variety of alpine vegetation, including lichen. Their split hooves spread wide apart for balance, and softer inner pads provide traction. They have very strong necks, shoulders, and front legs. As a result, they can go right up slopes as steep as sixty degrees! They can climb quickly and elude many predators, including wolves and bears. (Of course, cougars and golden eagles are not deterred much by the steep terrain.) Strangely enough, mountain goats would not survive as well in gentler places. On flat ground, they are too slow to escape from predators.
There is a lesson to be gleaned from the life of mountain goats. God gives us what we need too. We don’t always recognize it. All too often we wish we had someone else’s gifts. But God has distributed His gifts as He sees fit. To sulk or to pine for what He gave someone else shows ingratitude. We are all different, yet each one of us is loved by the Creator and created for His purpose and His pleasure.
The Lord has put us where we are for a reason. He wants to touch this world through us. We don’t want to miss the adventure He planned just for us!
O Lord, thank You for how You have made me and where You have put me. Please help me to put two and two together, and see how I can serve You here!