This is my prayer in the Harvest
When favor and providence flow
I know I’m filled to be emptied again
The seed I’ve received I will sow.
What do people do when they want you to remember something? Repeat it. What does God do when He wants a lesson to sink in? The same thing.. I have heard the same analogy from 2 different people in the last couple of months. God knew I needed it while I was in the valley; however, I also needed it re-iterated to me on the mountain top for me to really get it fully.
I find myself doing it all the time: wishing for the “mountain top” moments. Then when they do happen, wishing I could stay there forever and never leave. This is not a bad desire. It is good to want to be near God! But this is not the only time we can feel His presence and for Him to work on our lives. Just like in the Transfiguration story in Mark 9:2-13, Jesus brings us down off the mountain.
Why would Jesus do that? Wouldn’t He want us living in the high of his presence on the mountain all the time?
Just like the mountains–the view, the awe, and the Glory is found at the top. You can see clearly for miles the breath-taking beauty around you. But to grow we can’t stay at the top. If you have ever hiked a mountain, or have general knowledge about them, you know there is a thing called the “tree line”. The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions. They have to be in the valley to grow.
If we stayed on the mountaintop, we wouldn’t experience the growth that happens in the valley. The moments in our lives that have shaped us the most usually come from struggle and challenges. As much as we don’t like it at the time, it is for our better. We are being shaped and refined into more of who we were meant to be.
Not only are we growing in the valley, but we are helping others to grow also. The moments where we feel the presence of Jesus in our lives and see His glory are meant to give us the energy to make it through the valley. I love in the song where it says “I know I’m filled to be emptied again”. What is our faith if we don’t use it to pour into others? Just a bunch of ‘feel good’ moments? Something to journal about but not change how we live?
This is why I am going on the World Race summed up in to one phrase: “The seed I’ve received I will sow”
All of the lessons I have learned, the struggles I’ve gone through, the favor I’ve received from the Lord are nothing if they don’t allow me to point to others to God through them. My life is not mine, it is His. Eventually, I have to come off the mountain, because there are seeds that need sown in the valley.
If you are familiar with the song I’ve been pulling from for my most recent blog posts, you will realize this is the last chorus of the song. This isn’t just the flow of the song, but the pattern our lives tend to look like: desert, battle, and then harvest. Sometimes those seasons of life are longer than we hoped, or just not long enough. But the bridge of the song says it all:
All of my life
In every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship
