Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
God of the Mountain, and the Valley Too!
Sunday, July 15, 2001
1 Kings 20:27-28, "And 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. 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."
One can hardly imagine what that scene must have looked like as the two armies faced off at Aphek. There was a virtual sea of Syrian soldiers, while the army of Israel was divided into two groups. The Bible tells us that they looked like two “little flocks of sheep” while the Syrians “filled the land”. The odds were impossible and just the way God wanted them. This was not a war to prove how courageous or mighty the Israelites were; it was a battle between the gods of the Syrians and Jehovah. This was a battle to prove, once again, that God was with His people.
Once again, God is speaking to us concerning the battles of life that we all must face. This battle is both physical and spiritual but ultimately, it is spiritual.
1 Kings 20:29-30, "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. 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..."
There is a song that we used to sing years ago and the chorus of that song went like this:
The God on the mountain; is still God in the valley
When things go wrong; He’ll make them right
The God of the good times; is still God in the bad times
The God of the day; is still God in the night
God was on the mountaintop with Moses in all His glory and majesty as He gave us the 10 commandments, and God was down in the valley with Israel and it’s sin
God was on the mountaintop with David in Israel’s camp as fear reigned over Israel as they faced the Philistines, and down in the valley with Goliath’s threats when God guided David’s stone into the forehead of the giant.
Satan is more powerful than the people of God when approached from a human perspective, but He is no match for the King of Kings and Jehovah-Nissi, the Lord our Banner.
Song of Solomon 2:4, "He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love."
The love of God reigns supreme over all the power of the enemy of my soul. Paul says in Romans 8:38-39, "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
When we are on the mountaintop, our vision is clear, we can see almost forever and all of life falls into perspective for we are above the battle. Oh how I love those mountaintop experiences.
When the Spirit of God in our midst moves upon us so wonderfully. People are gloriously saved, filled with the Holy Ghost, slain in the Spirit, miraculously healed and delivered from all manner of oppression and depression. Those are mountaintop experiences!
After a time of prayer where you know that you have touched Heaven and that you have been in a one on one communication with God and your feet seem to float above the ground, there is a spring in your step and all’s well with your heart and life – that’s the mountaintop.
God is surely on the mountaintop in those experiences.
God is also on the mountaintop when the mountain you are on isn’t the mountain that God intends for you to be on.
Satan has a way of bringing you to a high point in life and then letting you teeter there for a while to see if you will fall off or not!
I have seen those who were doing so well financially that they didn’t need God. I have seen those who were enjoying their good health and enjoying the good life but did not have time or the inclination to be in church on Sunday. Satan was allowing them to have a mountaintop experience in the natural realm. Little do these people realize that, sooner or later, the lies that Satan has fed to them will come to the surface and all their worldly pleasures will come crashing from their lofty heights into the valley of despair.
God is on that mountaintop with them, even when they don’t see Him working. God is ever trying to keep His people from falling into sin or falling prey to the Devil. His still small voice is calling but they don’t hear. The Spirit is drawing but they are fighting against the pull. God is reaching out to them but they won’t reach up and take His hand.
At least, not until the crash comes. Then they look for His hand and you can see them in church every service for a while until the shock wears off.
On the other end of the spectrum, God is still God in our valley experiences as well.
David, the sweet singer of Israel, and a man after God’s own heart wrote Psalms 139:7-12, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee."
Praise God that He is in my valleys as well as my mountains. When I’m down, when I’m feeling low, when I’m defeated, when I’m sick, when I’m weak, when I’m depressed, when I’m discouraged, when I’m doubting – GOD IS STILL THERE!
He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us but to be with us until the end! His promises are true regardless of how I feel!
I know that many of my valley experiences are the result of my own doing.
Too many times I have played the part of Humpty Dumpty as I stayed on the wall, walked the fence between serving God and the Devil. Just like old “Humpty”, I fell off of the wall too. All my “king’s horses” of personal accomplishments, education, abilities and reasoning could not repair the damage to my life, and all my “king’s men” of self-righteousness and self-determination could not repair the damage to my spiritual life.
Thank God, what I could not do and what no Psychologist or Psychiatrist could do, what no human counselor could do, Jehovah-Nissi can do! He can take my scrambled egg and shattered eggshell of a life and put it all back together again and make it even better than before! His banner over me is Love and His love is powerful enough to go to the Cross and die for me that my ignorance and sin can be forgiven and washed away in His precious blood.
On the mountaintop, God is there as I bask in His presence and enjoy the best things of this life and experience the earnest of my inheritance in the eternal glory to come.
In the valley He is there, to help my faith to grow, to mold me into a useful vessel and to help me mature into a strong soldier of the Cross.
In that valley Satan screams into your ear, you’ll never be good enough! Look what you have done now! I thought you were a Christian! Christians don’t do what you have done! God won’t have any use for you now, you’ve gone too far and there is no turning back!
That’s when my Jehovah-Nissi casts His banner of Love over my soul and covers me with his wings of mercy for His eye is ever watching over me for I am the “apple of His eye”. That’s when my God steps up and its showdown time at the O. K. Corral in the realm of the Spiritual World.
Satan’s big guns are aimed in my direction. His shells of accusation are coming fast and furious! It’s an all out battle for my soul with eternity hanging in the balance.
But God steps out onto the street, calling the devil’s bluff and demanding a showdown. The Devil attempts to win but when God “slaps leather” its all over. Satan has too flee when I resist him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is an already defeated foe.
If you think that a Light Saber in the hands of Luke Skywalker has power to cut and divide, let me tell you that the power of the Word of God, spoken from the lips of a Child of God, calling upon the Name of Jesus Christ has power to slash the forces of Satan and send his demons fleeing for their very lives lest God casts them into the bottomless pit of hell itself.
There is another old chorus that goes like this:
Got any rivers you think are un-crossable?
Got any mountains you can’t tunnel through?
God specializes in things thought impossible?
And He will do what no other power can do!
That’s my God! That’s my Jehovah-Nissi and His banner over me is Love!
That’s my Lord, my Savior and my King! That’s Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
I have no valleys he can’t bring me out of. I have no mountains that He can’t bring low. He is my foundation, my rock, my fortress and my strength!
Praise Him today! Give Him glory! The victory is won! Heaven is already yours!
