Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Fruit is in the Valley

"O Lord, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed" (Psalm 30:7). Looking from a valley of adversity, its really easy to miss the hand of God. How often do we feel He has hidden His face from us? We know the grass grows greener in the valley. But when we are in the valley its really hard to visualize the fruit of the valley. The valley has the power to create change in more than our habits, it can change our very nature. The size of the valley is often an indicator of the level of our calling, and will help shape our future influence. Knowing this gives little comfort when we are in the valley. When we are lifted out of the valley we begin to see our valley experience was as much for others blessings as for our development. This is consistent with Kingdom truth. For life is lived forward, but understood backward. King David often looked backward at God faithfulness as we was walking forward. The backward look gave him confidence in the forward walk. Valley fruit is best viewed from the mountain. "He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light" (Job 12:22). "And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD ." (1 Kings 20:28) Beyond a doubt our God is the God of life's valleys. Just as He proved to the Syrians He is the God of the valleys, so He will show us the same. When you begin to realize this, you sit back and breathe a sigh of relief because you know that God was in control all along. It didn't seem like it at the time, but He was. Do you find yourself in the valley? Now is the time to fully trust Him for in His time He will guide you to higher ground. Dr. Ken Copley is available for counseling, conferences, and local church meetings.

No comments:

Post a Comment