A Brief Devotional

A few weeks ago, the pastor of our church preached a message about the Christian life being filled with mountains and valleys. The mountains are the high points; the times when life is on fire and going well. The valleys; these are the dark parts of life, where God feels distant or when life is challenging. If you’ve been a believer for a while, you’ve heard these metaphors used often. It describes a life with ups & downs, and peaks & valleys. Good times and bad.

From my own experience in the faith, the mountains and the valleys are most prevalent early on in faith. They are markers of the young believer navigating life. Our move into the Kingdom of the Heavens is the first mountain we ascend. Is there anything better than the moment you give your life wholly and completely to Christ? I would argue, there isn’t. This is an excellent place to be. There is a new fire in our bellies that brings us into this hunger and desire to know God and consume His word. This mountain top is often where we acquire zealousness. And it’s that youthful zeal that will typically bring us into our first valley.

With that zeal, we begin to exert so much energy doing, that we forget about being, or a better word, abiding. We get caught up in wanting so much, that we fall short and begin to feel disappointment, leading us off the mountain top and into the valley. Sometimes, that descent is slow but more often than not, it’s more like a crash. We have the best intentions in the world; all we want is to grow and know Christ. In contrast to the moment we meet Christ, is there anything more sad than the first descent into the valley?

Here in the valley, we begin to meet doubt and even question God. Maybe we move away from the faith for a little while and live or lives the way we used to, always hearing the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit. I know the valley very well in my own walk and believe me, it was that gentle whisper that kept me alive. Once our season in the valley is coming to a close, we have another encounter with Christ that pulls us up and with that, our elation and joy explode and soon enough, we find ourselves ascending the mountain again. This is, once again, a genuine and heartfelt movement out of the valley into the redemption of the mountain. A new closeness with God is here.

It’s no surprise that we, as followers and believers of Jesus Christ find ourselves living in this pattern. My pastor wasn’t wrong; faith is certainly a journey that has its ups and downs. There will be seasons of mountains and valleys. This cyclical faith seems like it can go on forever and ever. After having experienced innumerable amounts of mountains and valleys, I had had enough and knew, there has to be a different way to live. It shouldn’t always be such extreme highs and lows. That’s when the LORD showed me the garden.

The garden is the place that exists beyond the mountains and the valleys. The way of the garden is the life of maturity. The garden affords us the ability to know when the seasons are changing and to endure them with a steadfastness that will produce peace. The garden is where I see the words of Paul come to life when he talks about the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:2. Also see Ephesians 4:13). This is how we get out of the mountains and valleys; we renew our minds in Christ. We mature to the measure and fullness of Christ. If you’re living the valley and hoping for the mountain soon, or living on the mountain, stressing about the coming valley, just know there’s a third direction, and it’s the better way.