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HOW
LONG IS THIS VALLEY?
To get from the place where God has given us vision to the place where that vision becomes reality in our lives, we have to pass through a valley where the vision is formed in us...beaten into shape. Many of us have been trying to avoid this valley. The Spirit drives us to- ward the valley and we dig in our heels.
But the vision will never amount to anything in our lives until we commit ourselves to Jesus seriously enough that we’re willing to let him take us through a valley where the vision becomes real.
To those who don't want to walk though the valley there’s really nothing more to be said... they'll sit on their mountain top until the vision turns to stone. But for those who are willing to go down into the valley and let God deal with them there it's important to keep remembering that this is the only route that will ever bring vision to fulfilment...it's worth it.
When Jesus came out of the waters of his baptism he had vision. He saw heaven opened and the Holy Spirit des- cending on him in the form of a dove. But before that vision could become substance in his life he first had to go through a valley...he was driven into the wilder- ness to be tempted by the devil. In that valley, that wilderness, the vision became reality. Then Jesus came forth to Israel and proclaimed the kingdom healed the sick, raised the dead, laid down his life and conquered death for us. Jesus’ ministry followed that pattern again and again. Jesus has a vision that it was time to leave Judea for Galilee. To get to Galilee he to go through Samaria,
But in that valley the vision of the Father becomes life as he meets the woman at the well and lifts her into the Father’s kingdom.
In the upper room Jesus gives his followers a vision of the glory of the Father’s table. When supper is over he takes them into a horrendous valley and they
But in this valley the vision of the kingdom is ham- mered into shape. Jesus comes forth alive from the dead and leads these followers out of the valley into a life of divine power.
We thank God for the vision that he gives us. Not only the blazing flashes of glory that have come in those rare moments of God’s choosing but also for the vision he gives us in daily life.
- Those insights which are more than insights, - Those thoughts which suddenly answer our questions and get us moving ..and which we know came from the Lord.
But with every vision comes a valley. Some valleys are brief -- a day or two and we’re through --- and the vision has become real in our life. Some valleys are long -- so long that when we’re going through them it seems that they’ll never end. And in these long valleys we are often tempted,
- to give up hope, - throw in the towel, - to quit doing it God’s way and take a short cut.
Our reaction to these valleys, when they stretch out into years, when the darkness bears down on us with such heaviness we can hardly walk, to start thinking that God is being unfair and to withdraw into ourselves and sulk. When we withdraw into ourselves and sulk and brood and flirt with despair, all we’re doing is making the valley still longer.
1. When the valley gets long and we begin to feel that God is being unfair, the first thing we need to do is tell him how we feel... don’t brood. Tell God and keep telling him.
Elijah told him...
Elijah knew very well that his thoughts were twisted. But he was humble enough to open his heart and ex- press these twisted thoughts to God.
He headed deeper into the wilderness and came to Mt. Sinai.
Before Elijah left Mt Sinai God cleared his mind and restored his vision because Elijah wasn’t afraid to speak his heart God.
Jeremiah knew what it was to walk through a long valley. Everything began to look absurd and unfair. But Jeremiah didn’t withdraw into brooding self-pity. He took his complaint to God.
The prophet Habakkuk found himself in a 1ong valley and took his complaint to God.
He didn’t keep grieving in his heart and brooding about his complaint, he opened his mouth and uttered it to God! And we need to do the same. The worst thing we can do when the valley gets long is to sit in the shadows and sulk.
"Oh, but I’ve been crying to God and nothing’s happened." ....keep crying!
2. The second thing we need to do when the valley gets long is hang on to the vision. Don’t let go of the vision you were given before you entered the valley.
- You saw God’s glory...you will see it again. - You saw God’s mercy...you will see it again.
Habakkuk climbs up on the watchtower and says to God,
"I’m going to stand here until you give me some answer."
And the answer he gets is,
"Hold on to the vision."
"Write the vision, make it plain upon tablets"....in other words, "hold on to it, it’s going to be fulfilled."
Meanwhile, the righteous shall live by faith by hanging on to the vision God has given...even when all hell breaks loose and you have no earthly evidence to sup- port the vision, to still hang on.
says Job in the middle of his valley. He’s hanging on to his vision.
And David walking through his valley says,
3. Finally, when the valley is long, practice the presence of God right there in the valley. Know that God is there...not only is the vision still there, God is there!
The valley will end one day, but the real end of the valley is not when the sun comes out and everything gets rosy. The real end of the valley is when we learn to meet God and commit ourselves to God and walk with God there in the valley in the midst of the haphazard.
Jesus didn’t sit there on the edge of the well in Samaria, chew his nails, and cry,
"Will we ever get out of this place?"
Jesus saw the purpose of God where he was. He received the women who came to the well as sent by his Father, ministered life to her and turned the valley into a place of glory. Jesus turned the valley into a place of glory every time...he did it in Samaria, he did it at Calvary.
Don’t sit there and cry in your beer. Turn the valley into a place of glory. Let the vision become substance in your life by holding on to God right there.
Psalm 13 begins with,
It ends five verses later with, "I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me."
...he’s practicing the presence of God in the valley.
Habakkuk begins his book with,
...but he turns his Valley into glory. Listen to how his book ends.
How long is this valley? It will be there as long as it’s needed. It will be a valley until we turn it into a place of glory by meeting God in the midst of the haphazard, the confusion, the pain.
Whatever our valley is, that valley can be turned into the Banquet Table of God by seeing the Lord there.
Even if nothing has changed yet,
"yet will I rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength. He makes my feet like hinds’ feet. He makes me to tread upon the high places."
And as we rejoice in God and fix our hearts on his Son Jesus, and on nothing else, we suddenly discover that we’ve come out into a broad place...the valley is past.. the vision is fulfilled. And the life of God begins to pour forth from us for others as never before.
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