Isaiah 40:4 - Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth...
I heard a wonderful song yesterday. The writer is a young woman named Laura Hackett. The name of the song is Lowest Place. It spoke volumes to me and although I'd never heard the song before the melody is etched in my mind.
The lyrics go like this:
You said there would be joy in the laying down...You said there would be joy in the letting go…You said there would be joy in the giving up my life....and now I see: Your river, it rushes to the lowest place…. come and rush over me, let the river flow! I bow down, I get low, I open up my heart to receive Your love… I gotta get lower, lower, I gotta go deeper, deeper, I gotta get lower, lower, let the river flow! I have to dig for the wells of joy, I have to get to the wells of joy.
Think about it. Rivers start in the mountains and run down to the lowest place. Jesus' words, His love, His gift of salvation come to those who get to the lowest place. One of His many names is our Living Water; He is our Source. I've heard He does His best work in the valleys of our life, not on the mountaintop.
On the mountaintop we are at a time of joy and rejoicing. Things are going well for us. In order to have those times, we must have periods of valley experiences to balance things out. I think it's a win-win situation. We are brought low so we can enter into that place of healing. He works out those things we need to let go of and we are raised up once again. Look at Jesus...he had to die to be raised again! What makes us think we should have it any other way? Sometimes we start on the mountaintop in life and are brought low because of such things as pride and we are taken into that valley where God works things out.
What happens in the valley? Valleys are depressions between mountains. They tend to be lush and green. They might be moist and fertile. Growth takes place in valleys. The valley mentioned above is defined as a narrow gorge and it comes from the root word meaning pride, a lifting up. What happens in a valley? Which way can we go? From valleys we climb mountains. Once we've gone through the valley, God lifts us up. The pride, I'm sure, is the sense of accomplishment, the sense of letting go of something we didn't really need.
I've mentioned before about letting go of the things that prevent us from a closer walk with God. He asks us to sacrifice those things so we can be given the things, whether we are aware of them or not, that He knows we have need of. That probably means a valley experience, a time of loss of what was familiar, and a time of healing from that loss. But once we are healed, we can rejoice and move on in victory.
Sometimes we end up in those valleys because of life's situations. While we're there He sees the chance to do some work. We may be at our lowest point, and He can heal us and allow us to grow in Him. For a time He will set us free of the valley and allow us to spend time on the mountaintop. I heard someone say that on the mountaintop we are able to see the valley--where we came from. We can look back and rejoice in where we've come, how we've come through a difficult time.
I'm sure there are also times when God will put us in those valleys. The pride of life, perhaps. We've gotten too big for our britches. We've stuck our foot in our mouth once too many times. We are humbled... When we are in that low place are we full of life? Rather unlikely. It's there that we need our rest, our time to heal from a wound. Oh, those places of rest. How bittersweet they can be. And yet the joy of coming through.
If you so desire, however, He will be there with you. And He will never leave you or forsake you. He is our Great Physician, our Healer. Do not fear...
...God is not a Person who relishes in our suffering. He would rather we be rejoicing in all things...as we should anyway, even in the difficult times. But He knows we will never be perfect and will always need tweaking...in the valleys. It's only there that He is able to mold and shape us into the person He knows we can be. Parents chasten children mostly out of love. That's what God does for us in the lowest place, in the valley.
Psalm 23:4 - Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
