The Night a Mountain Melted and Europe Stood Still

On April 14, 2010, the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in southern Iceland erupted with such force that it sent a column of ash nine kilometers into the sky. Within hours, aviation authorities across Europe began shutting down airspace. By the next morning, over 100,000 flights were canceled. Ten million travelers were stranded. The entire continent — with all its technology, all its commerce, all its carefully scheduled ambition — simply stopped.

No executive could negotiate with the ash cloud. No military could shoot it down. No parliament could legislate it away. A single mountain, cracking open from the inside, reminded an entire civilization that it was not in charge.

The psalmist understood this long before modern aviation. "The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth." If the mountains themselves cannot stand in the presence of the Most High, what can? Psalm 97 declares that the Almighty reigns — that clouds and thick darkness surround Him, and yet righteousness and justice form the very foundation of His throne.

Here is the comfort buried inside that awesome power: the One before whom mountains dissolve is not capricious. He is not chaos. His sovereignty rests on justice and righteousness. The same God who can melt a mountain is the God whose rule makes the earth glad and the distant shores rejoice. His power is not something to dread — it is the only thing sturdy enough to trust.