God of the Hills and Valleys

When do you consider the Lord in your life? Oftentimes, it is not until trouble comes, or stress, or until we find ourselves in the proverbial valley of trial that we cry out to the Lord for help. We are equally prone to forget God in our successes, because we succumb to temptation to believe that we alone put ourselves in that place. Why is it so easy to blame God in hard times and forget God in good times? Is God to be blamed for life circumstances that leave us in sorrow? Paul says in Romans 9:20 “Indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to Him who formed it ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay…?” And a while earlier Paul says, “And we know that all things work together for the good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (8:28).”

What about those experiences in which our hard work pays off, when awards are won, and when favor from men comes from all directions? Why is it so easy to forget God then? The Bible says that exaltation comes from the hand of God, “He puts down one, and exalts another (Psalm 75:7).” Let’s not forget Israel, whose never-ending cycle of forgetting God in prosperity in the Old Testament, and ultimately led to their eviction from the Promised Land. “Every good and perfect gift comes from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning (James 1:17).”

Think of Psalm 23, which says that God is with us in the valley of the shadow of death (v.4). That same Psalm says that God prepares the banquet table, anoints us with oil, and causes our cup to spill over in abundance (v.5).

There is a new song by Tauren Wells called “Hills and Valleys”. Elise and I have been ministered to by this song as we try to establish our hearts in the sovereignty of God. We want to remember that on the hilltops of our lives, He is to be placed on the pedestal of glory, not to be forgotten; and in the valleys of shadow and uncertainty, the Lord is to be looked to for help and leading, because He never leaves us alone there (Psalm 23). He is shaping and molding us there.

Both the valleys and the hilltops were created by God, both in the physical creation and in our life experiences. When I’ve been out flying over the creation, it’s obvious to see that there was an intended design, and that both have their own unique beauty. There is no mountain without a valley on either side of it! He authored both the hilltop and valley experience to weave His story of redemption into our lives.

“On the mountains, I will bow my life to the One who set me there In the valley, I will lift my eyes to the One who sees me there

When I'm standing on the mountain, I didn't get there on my own; When I'm walking through the valley, I know I am not alone!

You're God of the hills and valleys." You're God of the hills and valleys!