The Valley No.1 How green is your valley?

We commence reading at the thirteenth verse, and we shall read until the thirtieth. So that's the first book of Kings, chapter twenty, and verse thirteen. And behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab, king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the LORD, even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou. Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two.

And after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand. And they went out at noon. But Ben-Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.

The young men of the princes of the provinces went out first, and Ben-Hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria. And he said, Whether they come out for peace, take them alive, or whether they come out for war, take them alive. So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them.

And they slew every one his man, and the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them. And Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, escaped on a horse with the horsemen. The king of Israel went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.

And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest. For at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee. The servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills, therefore they were stronger than we, but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.

And do this thing, take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their rooms. And number thee an army like the army that thou hast lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot, and we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he hearkened unto their voice, and did so.

And it came to pass at the return of the year that Ben-Hadad numbered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present, and went against them. The children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids, but the Syrians filled the country.

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. And they pitched one over against the other seven days. And so it was that in the seventh day the battle was joined.

The children of Israel slew of the Syrians a hundred thousand footmen in one day. 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 Ben-Hadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber.

Amen. Now, a hymn that. Now, I would be very grateful if you would have your Bibles open at the twentieth chapter of the first book of Kings.

And I shall make reference from time to time to one or two verses that are found in the passage that I read to you earlier. Some while ago, a novel was passed on to me for reading, and I was recommended that if I did read this novel, I would certainly appreciate the story. And I was glad for the recommendation, because, true enough, I did enjoy it.

The author was a Welshman. Graphically, eloquently, and movingly, he presented a picture of life in the Rhondda. And one saw the menfolk of the various villages descend into the bowels of the earth and hew out the fuel for thousands of homes and factories.

But Mother Nature sometimes seems to put in a bill for the various things that men and women take out of her. And as far as the Rhondda is concerned, and those of you who have Aberfan in the back of your memories will appreciate this, the bill is a slag heap. And like some giant that continues to grow and expand, so the tips push their way into the plain, consuming the little pasture land that there is, and get nearer and nearer to the townships.

The day came, in the experience of the writer, when his village was completely taken over. It had to be evacuated. And in nostalgic fashion, he entitles his book, How Green Was My Valley.

How Green Was My Valley. I want to take that title and modify it just a little, putting the tense from the past into the present and making the pronoun more personal. And suggest that for my title, for my address today, you listen to the question, How Green Is Your Valley? How Green Is Your Valley? You say, why do you form a question like this? Why do you put something into the interrogative and use it as a title to challenge us from the pulpit? And why employ such metaphorical language as this? I do so purposely.

It will help us eventually to look at one specific verse in the passage that I have read to you. But also because we often think in terms of human experience as ranging from the mountaintops to the valleys. You imagine someone who is despondent, despairing.

And what might be the comment that you pass about this person? You may say, you know, so-and-so is very down. And if you're going for slang language, you may say they're down in the dumps. Now, that's the reason why I put this particular question to you.

Because I want to use the word valley in a metaphorical sense, as describing a spiritual, or if you like, an emotional, or indeed a psychological state. Someone who is having a valley experience is certainly depressed, is certainly down, and despondent. So once again, I put my question to you.

How green is your valley? When you go through this type of experience, could it be the case that there is a tinge of greenery that makes the horrors of the experience seem to be a little lighter? Is there something of value for each one of us when we pass through a situation in life that on the human level we would naturally withdraw from, and we would exempt ourselves from it? The psalmist referred to passing through the valley, did he not? He spoke about the valley of the shadow of death. And it's along that line, then, that I'm directing your thoughts, as I employ this question for the title of my address. How green is your valley? Now, let me bring you to the particular passage that triggered off my thinking along this line earlier in the week.

The Israelites were going through rather a difficult stage in their history. Once again, they were being attacked by the Syrians. The Syrian king's name was Benehadad.

The Israelites' king was Ahab. And Benehadad had led his army in an invasion into the territory of the Israelis. And in a remarkable fashion, as you will discover from the 20th chapter, Ahab and his forces were able to repulse the invaders.

And the possibility was that, having been so successful, the king might feel that they were no longer in danger of an attack from the Syrians. But as he was to discover from a prophet of God, they were still very vulnerable, and the Syrians were merely gathering together more forces and delaying the day when they would once more attack the frontiers of Israel. Now, Ahab is informed about this by the prophet.

But the interesting thing is that this man of God has an insight into the strategy, into the thinking of the court of Benehadad. Indeed, we're given a picture of Benehadad and his advisers discussing the next time when they shall attack the Israelites. And the prophet tells us something about the thinking of Benehadad and his men.

Listen, in the 23rd verse, we read this. The servants of the king of Syria said unto him, that is, Benehadad, Their gods are gods of the hills, therefore they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.

You see, when they were reviewing the situation, when they were trying to determine why it was that they had failed in their invasion on the first instance, they came to this conclusion. They had not in any way erred from the point of view of military strategy, but rather their folly had been a theological one. They had forgotten the fact that the god of Israel, the god of the Jews, was a god of the mountaintops, a god of the hills.

Probably their invasion had been at what today we refer to as the Golan Heights. And on the summits of the hills, the Syrians had accosted the Jews, and they'd lost. And according now to their deliberations and the conclusions that they have drawn, they reckon that if on the next occasion they go to the frontier posts, they stay in the valleys, then all will be well.

Because the god of the Israelis is the god of the hills, and not the god of the plains. Indeed, the prophet who comes to Ahab and tells him what has been going off on the Syrian court has this to say in the name of God. Look at verse 28, and this shall be the basis of my exposition this morning.

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 God is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thy hand, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Now that's a fantastic scripture. Concealed within a historical passage of the Old Testament, and perhaps there are some of you this morning, and you've never really come across this particular verse.

Well, let's enjoy it together, because I think that concealed in it are spiritual truths and principles that shall be of practical value to you today. Here is the prophet saying that the God of the Jews is the God of the mountaintop, but also He's the God of the plain. He's the God of the valleys.

You know, on the human level, and I've already intimated this, if we had a choice, we'd never really go through the valleys, would we? I'm speaking now in the metaphorical sense. We'd always choose the mountaintops. And how often in our evangelical parlance, and isn't it strange how evangelicals get a phraseology all for themselves, we speak about the mountaintop experiences.

But let me say this. I want to thank God for the valleys in my life. And I would go so far as to say, if I may be personal for a moment, that I have learned more about God in the valley than ever I've learned about Him in the mountaintops.

I thank God for the moments of spiritual ecstasy when He's caught me up in His presence, and I have enjoyed a panorama of His purposes for my life. But I've been in the valley on many more occasions than what I've been in the mountaintop, and I reckon that my experience is not dissimilar to that of your own. But even though I concede all this, I must also, if I'm going to be absolutely honest, confess that if I had a choice of the two, I'd go for the mountaintop, although logic tells me to go for the valley, because I must concede that I have a certain fear of the valleys, and I wonder if you have the same.

Well, let's continue looking into this text along that line, and let me put a question up to my text and draw out from it some principles that would have been of help to the Israelis in the days of King Ahab and principles that will be of practical help for us today. And the question I first raise is this. Why do we tend to shun the valleys? Why are we afraid of the valleys? And my answer, and I cannot give you an exhaustive one, goes along this line.

Firstly, because we feel cut off in the valleys. You know, if the Jewish soldiers had been allowed to choose where they were to encounter Ben Hadad and his forces again, I'm sure they would have opted for the Golan Heights. Why? Well, think it through.

It's obvious, really, from a military viewpoint. If you're up on the top of the hills, you can see what's going off. You've got an idea of what the next battalion is doing.

You can see them. And what is more, you have a panoramic view of the enemy. You can discern what his strategy is, how he is going to attack.

But down in the valleys, it's different. You're sort of incommunicado. You're out of contact with the next detachment of troops.

There you are in the valley and it's misty and it's murky and you can't see the overall network of the enemy and the plans that the enemy is devising. And in the valley, you can perhaps convince yourself that all is lost, not realizing that all is about to be won. So I reckon that if the Israelis could have chosen where to fight, they would have opted for the heights and not for the valleys.

And that is also the case on the spiritual plane, is it not? But it's down in the valley that sometimes I feel so isolated, so cut off. It's in the valleys in my despondency, when I become something of a spiritual recluse, that I con myself into believing that God is no longer involved in my life and no one else understands. It's in the valley that I feel lonely.

The Apostle Paul knew something about going into a valley. I preached on that last week. Indeed, what I bring before you this morning is just a continuation, a development of all that we were saying last week.

Here he is and he's writing to the Corinthians of an experience when he was pressed beyond measure, when the pressures of life were so upon him that he felt quite isolated and gave up hope of life itself. We despaired, says Paul, even of life. That's it.

Pressed beyond measure, the feeling of being hemmed in at either side and not seeing any logical purpose for being in the position in which you find yourself. We shun the valleys, I say, because we feel cut off. And what is more, we shun them because we feel helpless in the hands of superior forces.

This was the case with the Jews here. Look, for example, at verse 27. And there, there is a contrast between the numbers of the Syrians and the numbers of the Jewish soldiers.

We read, the children of Israel were numbered and were all present and went against them. And the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids. But the Syrians filled the country.

It's in the valley when I begin to realize just how small I am and how few there seem to be on the Lord's side and how great are the numbers of those who are against us. The task seems to be absolutely impossible. Thus the hymn writer enjoins us, Christians, seek not yet repose.

Hear thy guardian angel say, Thou art in the midst of foes, watch and pray. And how well we agree with the hymn writer when he continues, Principalities and powers mustering their unseen array, Wait for thy unguarded hours, watch and pray. And it's in the valley when I feel overwhelmed.

It's in the valley when I recognize just the enormity of the forces that are leveled against me. And I feel it's an impossible situation. I just can't cope.

Not in the valley. And then thirdly, I suggest that I fear the valley because I tend to come down on the same conclusion as the Syrians did. In other words, the Lord is God of the hills and not God of the valleys.

I reckon the majority of us have a totally inadequate definition of the person of God. We look at the Lord and His involvement in our lives at certain parts of our experience and there we can see Him and His purposes. They stand out clearly and we thank God and we're taken up on wings of ecstasy as we praise our God.

But down in the valley, we sort of presume that God's not there anymore. As though He has a limited sovereignty. How often from the pulpit do I say, I believe in the absolute sovereignty of God.

And my dear friends, I do. I believe it most sincerely. But it's one thing to accept this academically and intellectually.

It's another thing to work it out experimentally in every situation that comes my way and in every situation that comes your way. And many evangelicals must conclude that really, if they're honest with themselves, they fall under the same delusion of the Syrians and we say the Lord is the God of the hills but He is not the God of the valleys. The disciples, I reckon, were conned by the devil into believing this.

I always feel a kindred, I always sense a kindred feeling in the Word of God when I read of the disciples and their experience in the boat on the Sea of Galilee. You remember how the wind tore down those Syrian hills, those same Golan Heights that I've been speaking about came down the other side and whipped up what was a tranquil sea into something that was fearful and tossed that boat around like some top, like some cork on the water. And these disciples, they were so afraid.

They were skilled fishermen. They knew about storms, but there was something so severe about this one. And as fast as they bailed the water out so the waves came crashing back on the deck and it looked as though all hope had gone from them.

And there is Jesus, the bow of the ship, fast asleep. They go along and rudely they waken Him up. And here I feel that I have some insight into the feelings of the disciples because this epitomizes my own experience so many times.

This rudely wakening the Lord up and saying, Carest thou not that we perish? You're so involved. Here are we and we're in despair. We're in despondency and you're asleep.

And it's that that poses the problem, isn't it? The inactivity of God. His seeming insensitivity to my needs at certain times. And we tend to believe that God is the God of the hills, but He's not the God of the valley.

Literally speaking, the Sea of Galilee is in a valley. And there was Jesus asleep in the boat and the disciples were suggesting that He was not aware of their situation. He didn't care that they perish.

So I put to you a number of reasons why it is that we're afraid of the valley. But then let me follow it by raising another question. Why should we not fear a valley experience? Why should we not fear it? Well, because if we're living right before the Lord, we should be prepared for it.

Ahab was to prepare himself for the valley experience. He had been warned by the prophet not to presume upon victory again. Not so much not to presume upon victory, but not to presume that the Syrians would no longer invade the Israel territory once more.

The prophet told him that this indeed would most definitely happen. And he gives to Ahab, the king, a piece of advice. Look at the 22nd verse.

The prophet came to the king of Israel and said unto him, Go strengthen thyself and mark and see what thou doest, for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee. Go strengthen yourself. Mark what you do.

If you want Sargent's paraphrase there, I would put it, watch your step. This is what the prophet was telling Ahab. Watch your step, because there's going to come another situation in which you're going to be absolutely dependent upon God.

And this time you'll not be on the hills, you'll be in the valleys. And your ability to withstand the pressure of the valley conflict will be determined by the way that you prepare yourself beforehand. And my Christian friend, this is exactly the same on the spiritual basis.

We must always prepare ourselves for the valley experience. This is what one of our hymns was saying earlier on. Stand then in His great might with all His strength endued and take to arm you for the fight, the penalty of God.

Leave no unguarded place, no weakness of the soul. Take every virtue, every grace, and fortify the whole. In moments when you recognize you're not in the valley, then ensure that the whole armor of God is placed upon you, because sooner or later the instruction will come from the Lord, go into the valley, and how you manage there will be determined by the way that you have spent the weeks and the months in preparation for a valley experience.

So we shouldn't fear it, because we should be prepared for it. But secondly, let me suggest to you we shouldn't fear it because glorious things have happened in valleys. Glorious things.

Now on the literal plane, and speaking in military language, the Syrians should have known that there were occasions in the history of the Israelites when great victories had been won by them in the valleys. And if the Syrians had any claims to be military strategists at all, they should have been aware of the potential of their enemy. Did they not know that there was an occasion when David had led his forces into the valley of Rephaim, and there he had routed the Philistines years before this event? Had they never heard of David's nephew Abishai, and the way that David's nephew had accosted the Edomites in the valley of Salt? And surely rumors of that tremendous story had infiltrated through to the Syrian land.

The story that told of the slender Hebrew youth David who goes down the valley of Elath and there accosts Goliath and fells the stalwart of the Philistines. I say that glorious things have happened in valleys. As far as the literal history of Israel is concerned, this is true, but it is also true on the spiritual plane.

There are many who would thank God for a valley experience. I wonder if you've heard of a man by the name of Alfred Monod. He was a French Christian whose strength gradually ebbed from him over a period of years.

For a long time, the latter part of his life, he was in bed perpetually, and yet this was a gracious Christian man. And his experience of God whilst he was sickly in bed over the months and years was so wonderful that his friends would gather around his bedside and there he would speak to them. He would address them on things that God had taught him.

And they were so impressed by his little sermonettes that they were written down. And I noticed the Banner of Truth publishing company have reprinted these sermonettes under the title of Alfred Monod's Farewell. It was in the valley that Monod learned so much about God.

It was in the valley that when so many glorious things happened to him. And I want to suggest to you that the same could be the case for your life. Do you say, if only the valley was not so narrow then I'd overcome.

But I can't see the reason for passing through it. But you know, my friend, God's Word doesn't always promise you a panoramic view. It does not always say that you'll understand God's dealings in your life.

But what it does say is this, that all things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. So let me very briefly put up my last question to my text. Is there value in going through the valley? And indeed the answer is in the affirmative there is.

Why? Because it is in the valley that God's purposes are realized. Now you may remember from last week that I quoted the text of the Savior in which to the inquiry of his disciples he has to say, What I do now ye know not, but hereafter ye shall know. And it must be said that sometimes in most extraordinary circumstances God's purposes are realized.

I don't always understand God's plan in my life. I suppose that goes for you too. I don't always understand God's plan in the lives of other people.

Speaking from the Old Testament, I do not really fully understand why Bathsheba should have been allowed to have given birth to a child that was stillborn. But Jesus taught that individual angelic care is given to every child that is formed within the womb and that when a child dies he returns to his father's house to enjoy the protection of God in his innocence. And David's life was revolutionized by that savage and tragic experience.

I do not understand why the apostle Paul had to go through life with that terrible thorn in his flesh. There may be many explanations as to what that thorn was. I'm not particularly bothered to try to locate what the trouble was, but it is obvious that Paul was limited by it.

And yet in the valley of his experience, he was able to testify that he knew more about God's grace. I say that in the valley the purposes of God are realized. And what is more, in the valley the promises of God are tested.

You know, it's in the valleys of life that we redeem the promises of God more than on the mountaintops. It is in the valleys when the Word of God becomes more precious than it has been before. You see, when you're on a mountaintop you don't really need to claim the promises, but when you're in the valley it's all that you've got left.

I remember a very great and influential preacher saying to me that on one occasion going through a severe operation, as he came through he could recall very little of what he had ever preached to people. He could hardly bear to concentrate upon God's Word as far as reading it was concerned. But back into his mind flooded all the promises of God that he had treasured in his heart from being a little boy.

And in the valley he cashed the promises in. He redeemed them. And there he recognized in a measure that he'd never known before even after serving the Lord for fifty or sixty odd years just how God's promises are valid during times of testing.

It's in the valley when you prove God, when you continue to believe Him, trusting Him when you can't trace Him, drawing consolation when you're experiencing pain. And what is more, it's in the valley that God's presence is experienced. You remember old Enoch who walked with God all the years of his life down in the valleys and up on the mountaintops.

And it was David who tells us as we remembered before though I walked through the valley of the shadow of death thou art with me. And it's that that makes all the difference. Oh, there are times when my emotions say it's not true.

There are times when my intellect says it's not true. But I know that God does not lie. His word is true.

And when He says I will be with you even unto the end of the world I will be with you even when you walk through the waters of affliction His word remains true. And in the valley you can know His promise. I must conclude though there is much more that grips my heart and I would like to say along this line God is the God of the hills.

He's also the God of the valleys. In effect, He's the God of extremes. He's present at birth and bereavement in mirth and in mourning in delight and despondency.

Go to the right hand and God is there. Travel to the left and you'll still find Him. If you belong to Him you can never be divorced from His presence.

He's never uninvolved in your life. His hands are always outstretched towards you. That does not mean that He'll resolve every problem to your own satisfaction.

It does not mean He will explain every mystery. It does not mean there will be nothing that baffles you along your spiritual pilgrimage. No.

But though He allows you to be baffled He'll not allow you to be beaten. Though you're perplexed He won't allow you to be plucked from His hand. You see, He's in the valley with you and He'll bring you through it.

Though not now one day, perhaps from the battlements of Emmanuel's land from the vantage point of eternity you'll look back upon the route that you've taken and you'll thank God that He led you that way. You couldn't see why you had to go into the valley but if you'd have had a bird's eye picture you'd have understood. And throughout eternity I say you'll thank God for the way that you came.

There is a poem that I leave with you that sums up, I think, the gist of what I've tried to bring to you this morning in the name of the Lord. A poem written by Amy Carmichael. Will not the end explain? The crass endeavour, earnest purpose foil the strange bewilderment of good works spoilt.

Will not the end explain? Meanwhile He comforteth them that are losing patience, tis His way. But none can write the words they hear Him say for men to read. Only they know, He saith sweet words that comforteth.

Nor that He doth explain the mystery that baffles but a sense husheth the heart that somewhere far, far hence there lieth a field, thick-set with golden grain wetted in seedling days by many a rain. The end, it will explain. And until that moment of explanation comes redeem the principles within this text and recognise that our God is a God of the hills and praise His name.

He is also the God of the valleys. Amen. Our Father and our God, we thank Thee for the relevance of Thy word and for the encouragement it is to our soul.

We praise Thee that Thou art the one who doth direct our lives. And again we say choose Thou the path for me although I cannot see the reason Thou dost choose to lead me so. We would not react against Thy will, O God.

We would accept it. And we thank Thee that even when we pass through the valleys there is a tinge of green there because Thy presence is with us, Thy promises are valid and because we are on the victory side. And one day You'll bring us through tremendously.

So encourage us in our faith. Help us always to look unto Jesus. And we pray that during these next few days we may know particularly the nearness of Thy presence.

And now may the blessing of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be our experience now and until our Saviour returns. Amen.