I recently visited a place I have been many times that always challenges me to act when I am not sure of the action to take. It is a place that we have all been along with King David … the valley of the shadow of death.
It was Oswald Chambers that once again set that valley before me, and here are some thoughts (summarized) he left me to ponder that we all can meditate on as it seems we are finding ourselves walking through that valley as the world spins out of control all around us.
After every time on top of the mountain with the Holy Spirit we are brought down with a sudden rush into the reality of things as they are; but it is in the valley that we must live for the glory of God. We see His Glory on the Mount, but we never live for His glory up there; as Peter learned we cannot stay there. He thought it would be a fine thing to pitch a tent and remain on the mountaintop, but Jesus took them down from the mount into the valley, the place where the meaning of the vision is explained.
After God gives us our moment on the top of the mountain He wants us down in the drab, dark valley where we live according to our personal relationship to Him. It is in the valley of the shadow of death that we find our true worth to God; that is where our faithfulness is revealed.
Look back at your own experience. When you were on the mount, you could believe anything, but what about the time when you were up against the facts in the valley? What about the thing that is a humiliation to you at this moment? The last time you were on the mount with God, He showed you that all power in heaven and earth belonged to Jesus … will you now forget that in the Valley of Humiliation?
In my times in the valley the Holy Spirit has faithfully reminded me that the valley I find myself in is … Only a shadow of death and I am walking “through” it … with Him. But there will be other moments on the mount with Jesus; of which many are related to my time in the previous valley. Just some food for thought!