Mountains and Valleys

Day one hundred fifty

Have you ever sat down to read the scriptures and thoughts just start popping into your head?The kind of thoughts that drive you to keep going until you have exhausted following that thought to its end.  That's what happened to me yesterday, I sat down to read the scriptures and the next thing I know I have enough information to write three blog posts!  It felt good.  I had thanked the Lord last night in my prayer, but I was still feeling the scripture buzz this morning, so I thought I would thank Him again.  I am so grateful for the scriptures and the lessons that they teach and for a God who has given me opportunities to learn to recognize those lessons.  I don't know if what I learned will have the same effect on others, but the words just flowed yesterday and lifted me up, so I want to share them with the hope that you might be lifted too. 

Deuteronomy 11:10-11

As the children of Israel journey toward the Promised Land, they are given various instructions by Moses.  One of the things they are told is that the land they are headed to is nothing like the land they left behind (v. 10).  They are told that it is a brand new type of land.  It is a land that will require them to think of things in a new way.  It is a land that will require them to depend upon the Lord and upon Him alone.

As I read these verses, I see a parallel between the words of Moses concerning the Promised Land and the gift we get with each new day.  Like the Israelites, we are beginning a journey into the unknown.  Each day can be nothing like the previous one we have just left behind.  It is, in truth, a new land into which we are entering.  Success in each new day may require that we do things differently than we did in the last.  Certainly, it will require that we walk in total dependence upon the Lord as we journey through it.

In verse 11 the Promised Land is described as a land of hills and valleys.  As such, it is nothing like Egypt.  Egypt is a flat land.  There are no valleys and mountains there.  But, Canaan is different.  Everywhere the Israelites traveled when they entered Canaan, they encountered the hills and the valleys.

In each new day there is a chance for the mountain top experiences and for a walk through the valleys of life.  I think we are better prepared when we don't go in blindly, but with the knowledge that it could bring both the up experiences as well as the down. It gives us a better understanding of the reasons behind why we might descend from the mountain into the valley, and where to turn for help. 

None of us knows what lies ahead, but we walk with a God who does. He knows the way intimately, and has prepared the way as He has seen fit.  "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jer 29:11).  Since this is true, we need not worry nor fear, but we should walk quietly, peacefully and humbly with the Lord as He leads us through the ups and the downs. 

In a previous post I stated that the Lord was trying to get the Israelites to look up or to look to Him, well thank God for the hills and the valleys, because that's exactly what they do!  Imagine what the world would be like without the mountains in our spiritual life to bring us joy or the difficulties of the valleys that drive us to our knees in prayer and cause us to look to God for help.  Imagine a life where every day was the same.  Imagine a life that was dull and boring because the landscape never changed.  It brings to mind the saying, "we could never appreciate the anchor if we never felt the storm!"  As I look back on the mountains and valleys in my life I am very grateful to the Lord, because my life has been anything but boring!