Hills and Valleys

Psalm 23:4 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

You can see from the Bible that life is full of hills and valleys. We see David was the King of Israel, a man after God’s own heart, but he also made a mistake with Bathsheba when he gave the order to put Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, at the forefront of the battle knowing he would die. Everyone will face their mountain tops and valleys at some point and in all different sorts of ways.

The vast majority of people, if not all of them, will question God as to why He has allowed them to go through what they have. If you have ever been hiking in the Grand Canyon, or through the mountains, you will be able to see the surrounding mountains around you as you are going through the “valley.” That is a picture of how life can look sometimes. As you go through your “valleys,” the difficult times in life, you’ll be able to see all the “mountains,” the successes, in other people’s lives around you. 

It is easy to get caught up in this, to doubt God, to question Him, and even accuse Him. But with every “valley” there is a “mountain.” Valley is literally defined as: “a low area of land between hills or mountains, typically with a river or stream flowing through it.” From that definition, as well as Psalm 23:4, you can see that God will provide for you. So, anytime you feel as if you are all alone in your valley, just remember God is with you. You just have to keep pushing forward and learn to trust and rely on His strength and not your own.

Being a student at a Bible college, I hear a lot of messages, sit through many services, and events. At one event they played a short video testimony of Kyle Meynard. Kyle was born with congenital amputation, meaning he had no arms and no legs. In this video, his parents were saying that their philosophy in raising Kyle was with the mindset of no excuses. The video went on to show the documentation of Kyle climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. At one point in the video, one of the filmers asked Kyle, “What is the most difficult part of all this?” Kyle responded, “Every morning I wake up and look up to see what all I still have to do, that I forget to turn around and see how far I have already come.”

Kyle had every reason to throw in the towel, to quit, but he chose rather to keep going! So, when you are stuck in the “valley,” when you feel like you cannot go through anymore, just remember to stop, turn around, and see what God has already brought you through!