Hills and Valleys

Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Because the Syrians have said, “The LORD is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,” therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD.”

I Kings20:28NKJV

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There is a popular worship song called Hills and Valleys that blew up a few years ago. It was top of the Christian charts and even my favorite sports team’s coach quoted it after winning a huge championship while reflecting on their difficult road there. We all know and declare to others that our God is the God of the hills and valleys, right? I look at this verse and I wonder what may have led the Syrians to think that the Lord was only God of the hills. Then I wonder if maybe we might also sometimes think that God is a God only of the hills as well.

What is happening in this scripture is that the Syrians, a surrounding nation to Israel, went to war with the Northern Kingdom. They had marched to Israel’s capital at that time and laid siege to it. The Lord prevailed, and Israel beat them back. But while back in the war strategy room, there was talk about the Syrians belief of the God of Israel, that He was only the God of the hills. So instead, they planned an attack in the valley. It is so interesting that they knew and recognized God but only as a God of the hills—the high places. You see, they only saw God move in the high places for their people, they had not seen God move in the low places and thus did not know him of the God of the valleys. They saw that He protected, that He provided, that He was good to his people, but from that conclusion, they believed that He dwelled no where else but in the high places. 

I can’t help but wonder if sometimes that is what we think as well, that God is only found in the high places. In the wins, in the celebrations, in the good. And not in the bad. That we only think of God dwelling in the the highlights of our lives, that only in the good things can we experience Him.

But this verse in 1 Kings and what the Bible says is that God isn’t just found in the high points. That means that God isn’t just in the highlights, He is in the lowlights as well. Not only is He in the low places, He reigns over the low places—He is God of the low places. What does that mean? That He is in charge of the low places, not the other way around, it is a piece of his character. I would even go as far as to say that you can not experience fully who God is without meeting Him in the high places AND the low places. We will never fully know who God really is until we meet Him in the valleys. We can’t pretend life is all on the mountain top, a true journey is one through the mountains and the valleys. And aren’t we all just heading to the destination of eternity?

So my friend, when you find yourself in a valley, know that is where God can be found. Know that in the valley, you will come to know a big God, a great God, a God who doesn’t just live in the mountains, He lives in the valleys as well.