Mountain High, Valley Low.

"I long for the past when God took care of me, and the light from his lamp showed me the way though the dark. I was in the prime of my life, God was my closest friend." Job 29: 2-3

Seasons remind me of the changes I have experienced while moving through the different phases of my life. Sometimes it’s all smiles and kisses; life is good at this time. I feel God’s presence all around, giving clear directions, and lighting the path for me to walk. It feels great to be on the mountain. 

However, like the different faces of a tossed dice, the high times go and the low times begin. It’s tears and aches, and for some reason, God seems a distance away. Life deals its hardest knocks and you wonder where on destiny’s axis you took a wrong turn. You return to doing things you are familiar with, longing for the thrill and excitement you once experienced. Your heart breaks in despair as the feeling from this once-great experience evaporated without the slightest sense of fulfillment.

More than longing for the lost experience though, you long for God’s presence. When can I return to his presence? Your heart wonders as it aches for the satiety that comes from a loving relationship with God. Your mind rationalizes that you must have done something wrong. Why else would his presence leave, why else would the amber of his joy be extinguished in my soul? As you begin to dwell on the gravity of attempting to walk life’s path without his presence, a gentle voice whispers, “I am your ever-present help in time of need.” Emphasis on the phrase—“ever-present”! 

Even when you cannot feel God’s presence with your physical senses, you have to believe his spirit is in constant communion with yours, guiding you. In your valley lows, God will never leave you, nor forsake you. At those times your physical senses cannot feel his presence, you have to learn to tune your heart to connect with God’s spirit. Even in the midst of a fiery furnace, he’ll walk right through with you. You have to trust him, believe his word, even if you cannot feel him around you.

David affirmed the genuineness of God’s word by declaring that his laws have stood the test of time (Psalm 119:52). In times past, men of faith placed their lives in harm’s way to defend God’s word even though they had never seen him. It is typical for us humans to long for the good old days, when things went just as we hoped, but God expects his believing children to live life by faith and trust him even when things go the other way. 

Like the changes we experience in the natural seasons of life, whatever is here today is subject to change as time passes. Don’t get hung up on life, don’t lose the joy that God’s placed in your heart, don’t lose faith in God because you cannot feel him with your physical senses. As surely as he lives, your tide will change. You’ll move from that valley low experience to the mountain top.