Do you notice that it is when you are in the roughest situations or going through a tough time, when the Lord revels Himself the most so that you can learn a lesson? Not that I want to go through more tough times, but it does help me to be appreciative of those times. A day this past week was ‘just one of those days’. I was frustrated. Annoyed. Upset. And just wanted to be alone. So as soon as we got done digging our hole for the day, I grabbed my Bible, journal and devotion book and headed up some mountain until I found this gorgeous meadow to spend some time with the Lord.
Words from my daily devotions with Oswald Chambers rang in my head as I looked at the surrounding mountains. Here I am expecting to be in the place of exaltation all the time. It’s similar to when we are up on a mountain top looking at the scenery for as far as the eye can see. We love being up here. We feel free, happy, and even inspired. But God made these moments for strictly that: moments of inspiration to guide us. But we were not made for the mountain tops. We were actually made for the valleys which is the ordinary things of life. Yeah the mountaintop is great. But would you really want to stay up there full time? The valley is where life is and that is where God has called us.
The valley is where we belong. The valley is where we learn who we are and where we live for God’s glory. The mountain is where we SEE God’s glory, but the valley is where we LIVE for it. Too often we are spiritually selfish and desire only to be on the mountaintop. We know this is a safe place, where we feel God’s presence, where we can see the vision of who He has called us to be. But staying on the mountain top will lead us nowhere. It is in the valley where our relationship with our Lord is used. It is in the valley where the vision we saw on the mountain can become a reality.
To become the vision from the mountain is no easy feat. There are bumps and bruises that must be acquired if God is going to mold us. There is no way we will be able to make it through the sharpening process unscathed. And this is where I am at. God has shown me the vision (or at least parts of it) and it is time to come down the mountain into the valley to be shaped into that vision. What is difficult for me is “The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people.” One likes to feel comfortable and safe, but we have to remember no person and no situation is perfect and it is because of this, there will be beatings, but the hope comes in knowing the beating will be used for the shaping of my life into the vision I saw on the mountain.
During my time in the meadow, the Lord sent me to the book of James which was a good reminder of knowing that I am not in control, but that shape and change will only take place when I take the passenger seat and give God the driver’s seat with my life. James 4:7,8,10
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
