Mountaintop and Valley Experiences

If you could sing as much in the valley as you do on the mountaintop, or praise the Lord as much  in the valley as you do on the mountaintop, after a while it may seem like there are no valleys.  It seems like most every believer would love to live on the spiritual mountaintop continually.  Living on the mountaintop, so to speak, is great; hardly a care in the world, everything seems to go super great, very few problems, things seem to run smoothly for the most part, yes it is a time to recuperate and be rejuvenated in your walk with the Lord.  

But I think the problem that many believers could face is, if we are in this mountaintop situation too long, we can get very complacent and proud and arrogant and even start taking the Lord for granted.  Our walk with the Lord will be affected possibly very negatively and we will have a hard time growing and an easier time conforming to the world and its system.  I think people get far more sincere in their prayer life and in their walk with the Lord, in general, when they spend time in the spiritual valley.

In the spiritual valley, so to speak, is where I think we will grow the most spiritually.  It is where we realize how desperately we need the Lord, remember this, “unless the Lord build the house, we labor in vain that build it.”  In my way of thinking, unless the Lord build the relationship, or the marriage, or the ministry, or the business, or the city or whatever we try to accomplish, we labor in vain that build it!!  Without the good Lord guiding and leading us, we will never be as effective as we would be with His help.

Maybe that’s why the Bible says this in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in Adonai with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”  We need to be very careful who and what we listen to today and ask the Lord to teach us and guide us into all truth and to bring that truth back to us when we need it!!

I remember one of the times I felt that I was in a spiritual valley, I remember how hard I prayed and how fervently, I was like a desperate man seeking answers that I desperately needed at the time and I was in this situation for twelve to fourteen years before the answer came and I felt I was set free again.  I have never pressed into the Lord like I did at that time in my Christian walk.  My prayer life seemed different plus my walk with the Lord was truly affected in every way because I may have had an urgency and a stronger desire for the things of the Lord at that time.  

When I truly got committed to the Lord about forty years ago, I was so excited and so full of joy, I was witnessing to most everyone I met.  Then I became very miserable, in a spiritual valley experience I was going through which lasted a very long time, I guess I thought I would never come out of it.  One day I felt that the good Lord spoke to me and that spiritual battle was about over, praise the Lord.  

I have been through others since  that and I can say they are no fun, although in the end, they help if you allow them to, because when you see them as experiences to help you grow instead of the Lord giving up on you and being angry with you, just wanting to hurt you, then you will see things altogether differently.  Many people, when they are chastised or going through a test, think that the Lord is angry with them when just the opposite may be taking place.  When Job faced the test that he experienced he wasn’t guilty of sin at the time, so we may not be either.  

I think you got the message!!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you all have a super day.