The Valley

The valley. A lonely place full of fear, with no direction to safety. A place where all hope vanishes. Nothing makes sense. You look for stability, a safety net, an anchor, but the world offers no peace. The valley causes panic, anxiety, and overwhelming thoughts. And, the valley comes swiftly.

You will not see the valley coming. If you did, you would change course. After all, we spend our lives doing everything to avoid the valley. We try to live the American dream—a nice, safe life free from danger and risk and surrounded by the comforts of our culture. And, the valley rips this apart in an instant.

For the one of faith, refining comes in the valley. When gold is refined by fire, impurities are removed. The same can be said of the faithful one that walks through the valley. God removes impurities in our life, things that have a tendency to pull us away from Him. And, refining is never easy, never fun.

Lessons I learn in the valley.

• The valley is where spiritual growth happens. One learns God in a deeper way. One understands qualities never recognized. One understands the peace that He brings. One understands the value of of having Him by your side.
• Lack of control becomes settled. Life is lived as if one has control. We maneuver our way around obstacles and plan for the future. Then, the valley comes. All control is lost, or, better said, we finally realize we have no control. And, this lack of control can only be settled by Jesus.
• Day-to-day dependence is developed. We are taught this early on in life, to depend on the Lord daily. But, our lives don’t really depend on the need for God to come through. Manley Beasley pondered (paraphrased), “what are you depending on God for right now that if He doesn’t come through, you are sunk.” And Jesus calls us to focus on today, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34). The valley makes daily dependence mandatory.
• Conversations with God become real. God can handle the real questions, the real conversations. In fact, He wants them. The real conversations come out in the valley. The real questions come out like, “Where are you?” or “Why?” And, passion fills these conversations. The raw, gritty, “do something” type conversing. The kind of conversations that I had with my Dad growing up, these are the conversations with our Father in the valley.
• Priorities come into focus. Skipping through the mountaintops of life, we rattle off the order of our priorities in life, “faith, family, friends, work.” However, our lives don’t often match these priorities, but it does feel good to say it. The valley magnifies what is most important in life. As the old hymn says, “the things of this world will grow strangely dim.” The valley strips the unimportant, causes us to deeply focus on the most important.

There is purpose in the valley. When times are good, when everything is clicking on all cylinders, my perception is that I am in control, daily dependence is not needed, my conversations are more shallow, and my priorities are a bit superficial. The mind of the one in the valley is shifted to a need for God for mere survival. God wants us to live with a valley mindset always.

But, beware. It is easy to lose faith in the valley if one looks to the things of this world for peace. Jesus knew the difficulty of maintaining faith in the valley. When Peter was headed to a storm, Jesus did not remove the storm, rather he prayed for Peter’s faith (Luke 22:32). The Lord of the storm was focused on Peter’s faith, not keeping him away from the valley. Jesus knew that the key to peace in the valley is faith in the Lord of the valley. The faithful one traveling through the valley can find peace that transcends all understanding through faith in Him (Philippians 4:7). Look to Him, not the world.

Know that your valley is coming. We will all traverse the valley. Adrian Rogers said that “you are either in a storm, coming out of a storm, or headed to a storm.” When the valley comes, the deep theological truths of Scripture become less important. The focus turns to the protagonist of the book, Jesus. And, the absolute truth of Matthew 28:20 that Jesus is with me forever is enough. Nothing can separate us (Romans 8:38, 39).

When the lights are dim, the fog is heavy, and clarity can not be found, rest in the truth that Jesus is with you always. And, He is Lord of the valley.

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