“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” Psalm 23:4
I was reading about History of the Holy Land on the Internet recently and read that in Israel, on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, there’s a canyon called the Valley of the Shadow of Death. In his day, King David, the writer of Psalm 23, probably traveled through it many times. Some of the canyons along the road to Jericho were narrow at the bottom and as tall as 800 feet. The only time you could see sunshine at the bottom was at noon when the sun was straight overhead. In the Bible, valleys are often a metaphor for times of darkness, despair, defeat, or discouragement. Ever been in a canyon like that?
The Bible teaches that God is not just a part of our celebrations, victories; your mountaintop experiences. He is also with you in the valleys. There are three things you need to remember about the valleys.
First, valleys are a part of life. Valleys are inevitable. You may have just come out of a valley, are in the middle of one right now, or are headed into another one. There’s no way to avoid valleys while you’re on this Earth. Instead, you can count on them.
Next, valleys happen to everybody, read the many stories about King David. Valleys impartial. Good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people. We live in a fallen and broken world, so we have problems. Nobody’s immune. Nobody’s insulated from pain. Nobody sails through life problem-free. Look at our country. Read the news from Haiti.
And lastly, valleys are unpredictable. You can’t plan them. You can’t time them. You can try to prepare for them. Problems typically catch you off guard. In fact, your valleys and your problems usually come at the worst times; when you don’t have time, when you’re unprepared, and when it’s inconvenient. Wouldn’t it be easier if you could schedule all your valleys when you’re caught up on your sleep, your health is good, your bank account has ample funds, your doctor gave you a clean bill of health and nobody is bugging you? But life doesn’t work that way.
When you know what to expect in the valleys of life, you know how to better prepare for them and keep trusting in God’s presence and provision.
Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you,
Jay