"But the land, to which ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys" (Deuteronomy 11:11).
Have you ever asked the Lord the question, "Lord, why so much pain?" "Why is my life full of hills and valleys?" A Christian's life is a life full of hills and valleys. And yet we have not been the only ones whose life appears at one time or another disastrous. The life of the Israelites' children were no different there, yet their lives were full of great moments and disastrous times. In the Abrahamic Covenant God promised to give them the land of Canaan, the Promised Land, but He didn’t make it easy for them.
In Deuteronomy, chapter 11, they were told to, "Love the Lord God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always" (v. 1). But they were also told, "But the land you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys" (v.11). From that day moving forward the Old Testament continued the story of the Israelites and their encounters with hills and valleys.
We as Christians have a great deal in common with the nation of Israel, even though there are some radical differences. For example, there was a time when they were a people in bondage, and yet God set them free. Once you and I were in bondage to sin, but God has set us free. God set Israel free by the blood of a sacrificial lamb, and God has set us free by the blood of a lamb, Jesus Christ. God's lamb is without spot or blemish. God led the nation of Israel with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, and God leads us today through His holy word. God brought His people to the border of their inheritance and told them to go in and possess the land by faith, but unfortunately, they fell into unbelief.
The Lord has given us a wonderful spiritual inheritance in Christ. All we have to do is possess it by faith. The bible is the divine road map that describes our inheritance. Along that road of life there are stop lights, caution lights, green lights, and stop signs, and we must pay attention to them.
Many people think that the Christian life should be an easy life. They are so naive that they believe that once you are saved, that all of your troubles will be over. NOT SO! Once you are saved there will be many problems, some will be solved, but many new problems will appear. Jesus never promised us that it would be easy for us to claim our inheritance. He said, "In this world you will have trouble" (John 16:33). He warned His disciples, "This world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first" (John 15:18). The Christian's life is a land of hills and valleys.
Have you ever noticed that most of the great people in the bible went through great valley experiences? In Genesis 27, you find Isaiah trembling because Jacob tricked him in believing that he was Esau. As you stroll through the bible you see Jacob wrestling all night with a man until it was almost daybreak. Can you hear Moses crying out to God when he asked Him, "Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me?" (Numbers 11:11). I see David hiding in a cave and wondering if the crown would ever be placed on his head. I can hear the prophet Isaiah lamenting, "I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the Lord's hand, and my reward is with my God" (Isaiah 49:4). Can you not see John the Baptist in prison as he sends his disciples to ask Jesus, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" (Matthew 11:2). What about the great Apostle Paul saying, "We do not want you to be uniformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life (2 Corinthians 1:8). These men knew what it was to go through the valley.
So why does God permit these valleys to come in our lives? For one thing, we learn some lessons in the valley that we could never learn while on the mountaintop. Through these experiences we grow in character in a way that we could never grow apart from the valley. Great Christians are made by great trials. We do not become patient simply by reading a book or praying prayers. We become patient by going through the valley. We do not learn how to pray by sitting in an easy chair. We learn how to pray by going through the valley. Faith is cultivated in the darkness of the valley.
God has another purpose for the valley. As we go through the valley, we learn how to help others. Psalm 84:6 puts it this way, "Who passing through the valley of weeping makes it a place of springs." Here is a pilgrim going through a difficult valley, so difficult that he is weeping, but he leaves behind a well to refresh the pilgrims that will follow him. Perhaps he leaves behind a well to refresh the pilgrims that will follow him. Perhaps the reason you are in the valley today is because that God may comfort you so you in turn may comfort someone else. The Bible says, "God comforts us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble. By the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God" (2 Corinthians 1:4).
The Christian's life is a land of hills and valleys. God ordains the valleys that He might teach us lessons that we could never learn any other way. He leads us through the valleys so that we may grow in our Christian character, and so that we may help others when they go through the valley. There is another reason that God permits the valleys in our lives, you cannot have hills unless you have valleys.
Wouldn’t it be just wonderful if life were just a series of mountaintop experiences? Wouldn't we be happier if there were no valleys in our lives? The Christian life is a land of hills and valleys, but we must never forget that you cannot have hills unless you have valleys.
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