This morning I pulled out my copy of Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest. What can I say… the guy’s pretty smart. Here are a couple excerpts from today’s reading:
“After every time of exaltation, we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they really are, where it is neither beautiful, poetic, nor thrilling. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the dismal drudgery of the valley, but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. We see His glory on the mountain, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God–that is where our faithfulness is revealed. Most of us can do things if we are always at some heroic level of intensity, simply because of the natural selfishness of our own hearts. But God wants us to be at the drab everyday level, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship with Him. […] When you were on the mountaintop you could believe anything, but what about when you were faced with the facts of the valley?”
A couple weeks ago my pastor spoke about suffering and why God allows us to go through rotten times. He talked about highs and lows, summit experiences and valley letdowns, and how God can use it all for good. One illustration he shared especially stuck out to me, maybe because I love mountains so much. My pastor described how when you climb a mountain, there is a point where the trees kind of fizzle out and the vegetation disappears. Nothing grows. Animals don’t venture far past the treeline, because there is nothing to eat. They can’t live up there. Yet we all want to be on the mountaintop! We strive to reach the summit, to get to the top and see the amazing view.
It’s easy to praise God on the mountaintops of life. But true faith is learned in the trenches. Growth happens in the valleys.
Maybe you feel as if you’re tumbling downhill. I’ll be honest–it kinda seems that way to me lately. But because we believe in a God who loves us and ultimately desires good for us, we can press on through the valley experiences. Embrace the growth. Let it hurt and find comfort in His faithfulness. Rest in the knowledge that He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it (Philippians 1:6). Only then can we begin to live for God’s glory in the place of humiliation.
