God of the Hills and the Valleys

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Scripture:

1Kings 20:28 A man of God approached and said to the king of Israel, “Thus says the LORD: Because the Arameans have said, ‘The LORD is a god of the hills but he is not a god of the valleys,’ therefore I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD.”

Observation:

The Arameans mistakenly thought that God was like their gods who were placed up on the hills, therefore they thought he could only fight battles for the Israelites on the hills.  Instead, God promised his people victory because he is the God of the hills, but also the God of the valleys!

Application:

How often are we also mistaken that God is only in the hill-top experiences of life?  It seems that when we are on the mountain top we experience the joy of the Lord in powerful ways.  Those are good and great days but we all know that the valleys will come as well.  The valleys will come in different ways for each one of us.  Today I know that there are friends who are spending their final hours with their loved ones who will be leaving this earth far too early in life.  In those times it's good to know that God isn't just up on the mountains, but that he is willing to come to us in the valley and sit with us, listening and mourning together with us.  The God of all comfort is in the valleys of life.

Disappointment over life experiences can also take us down into the valley where we may be tempted to think that we are alone and that we have been abandoned by God.  God does not abandon us in the valleys of disappointment, instead he is already there waiting for us with open arms ready to hug us with his great love.  We just have to allow him to do so!  Too often it is we who keep looking up to the mountains, wishing we were there and refusing to see God with us in the valley for somehow we have bought into the lie that he is only on the hills. 

For us to be victorious in our spiritual lives we must recognize that God is the God of the hills and of the valleys -- that he desires to journey with us in all of life.  We are the ones who create the barriers when we fail to see that he is the God of all and is in all. 


Prayer:

Lord, thank you for your presence in all of life.  Please, help me to see and to trust in you.  Amen.

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