The God of the Valley

Rev. Eddie Gobble presented the morning message.

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I King: 20:28 And there came a man of God, and spake unto the
king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said,
The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys,

therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall
know that I am the LORD. 29 And they pitched one over against the
other seven days. And so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was
joined: and the children of Israel
slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day. 30 But the
rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and there a wall fell upon twenty and
seven thousand of the men that were left. And Benhadad fled, and came
into the city, into an inner chamber.

The more we find out about God, the more we find out about love.  There are valleys, for example, the valley of death.  Even there the hand of God is upon us.  It seems like the times on the mountain are less than the times we spend in the valleys. Some of these are good; some are bad.

The valley of conviction is not a good place to be. When I was there I didn't know quite what was going on. God spoke to me and when I accepted him at that altar one day, I left the valley and went up to the mountain.  There have been valleys since. Jesus called me to preach. I tried to bargain with him.  I'd say "God, if you do this, I'll do this."  We DO NOT bargain with God.  When we're saved we are now our own. We don't always get our way.  I found myself in another valley–the valley of decision. I tried to hide from God to avoid the decision. I went into a deep valley. I was in high school. I didn't want them to make fun of me.

The three Hebrew children got into a valley just because they wouldn't bow to something other than God.  We don't have to look back and bow to the devil.  God takes us through. When they came out of that furnace, they didn't even smell like smoke. The king even saw the fourth man in the fire with them. They went through this valley but the Lord was right there with them.

The devil will do anything to get us depressed and keep us that way. An eagle as high as it can soar can get into a valley and not be able to get up. If not for other eagles helping them out, they would never survive. We need to have mercy on those in the valley.

God is God in the valley and the mountain. The Syrians made light of the fact that God is God of the mountains, not the valley. In return for this, God delivered them to the hands of Israel in the valley.  God was certainly with them in the valley. He can certainly be with us.