Too often, I find myself wanting to be in a perpetual state of a holy high. I don’t want the valleys, the lows, or the de-escalation of spiritual exuberance. Having recently come back from sabbatical, I can honestly say that part of me wishes sabbatical were an ever-present reality rather than a hiatus from the normalcy of life.
According to Scripture, there is an eternal “sabbath rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). Until then, however, we are called to live faithfully and fully, whether on the mountaintop or in the valley. “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).
What I find interesting is that not only are there times when we slog through the valley, but occasionally God also calls us there. I discovered this through two classic Christian authors, Thomas à Kempis and Oswald Chambers. Each of them gives a different reason for God leading us in and through the valleys of life, but both provide deep lessons for spiritual growth.
First, according to Kempis, God does some of His greatest work *IN* us when we are in the valley. “It is more helpful for your salvation that you should sometimes be left feeling flat and spiritually listless” (The Imitation of Christ, 121).
Ask yourself: Do you grow stronger when you’re feeling the comfort of sitting in your favorite chair or when you’re feeling the pain of exercise? Until that final “sabbath rest for the people of God,” we trudge through seasons of feeling flat and spiritually listless because, in them, we must turn to God for strength and sustenance.
Second, according to Chambers, God does some of His greatest work *THROUGH* us when we are in the valley. “The test of our spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong. It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up” (My Utmost for His Highest, October 1).
If we stay on the mountaintop, how will we help those who struggle in the valley? God Himself came down from the highest peak to the lowest valley, taking on human flesh to bring us back to God. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
If you’re on the mountaintop right now, give thanks and celebrate His goodness and pleasure. But if you’re in the valley, do not lose heart, for God is doing some of His greatest work *IN* and *THROUGH* you right now. Rejoice in the Lord that “you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering” (2 Thessalonians 1:5).
And be assured that one day, sooner than you or I may realize, we will step into that eternal “sabbath rest for the people of God.” So let us encourage one another all the more as we see that Day approaching (Hebrews 10:25).
