WITH GOD IN THE VALLEY OF LIFE – PART TWO

Friends, we are back to conclude the message we started last week, With God in the Valley of Life. We took our text from the familiar scriptures, Psalm 23:

Psalm 23:1-6

The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
² He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
³ He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

And I will say Amen!

PRAYER

Father, we’ve come again, to discuss the valley of life, which many of us find ourselves in from time to time. It is my prayer today, dear Lord, that my friends in radioland who find themselves in this valley – or will find themselves in the valley of life in future will find a way-out through You…in Jesus Name. Amen!

To refresh our memories, we said, naturally, the valley is an area between two hills or two mountains, usually drained by a river. A valley is a depression, a low point. But, figuratively, a valley is when we find ourselves in that place in life where the news is not good: when we find ourselves in life – where the news we get is not what we are expecting, where we find ourselves experiencing the opposite of what we have expected, when life is topsy-turvy – when life is upside-down, instead of right-side-up: you are in the valley. But then we said, there are two questions to ask when we are in the valley, we don’t say how can I stay away from the valley of life, because the valley of life is part and parcel of life. And you don’t ask the question, why should a good God permit somebody more so His own child to come into the valley of life. That’s not the right question because at one time or the other we must go through the valley of life. The right question is, how, can I go through the valley of life when I find myself in it.

And we said, that the answer is, that you go through the valley of life with God: hence the title of the message, with God in the valley of life.

I mentioned a few valleys, natural valleys, with their symbolisms. And these valleys have the typical characteristics of valleys, pain and sorrow:

1. The Valley of Siddim. That’s where Lot and his family where taken captive, and Abraham was compelled to go after the enemy to rescue his nephew.
2. We talked about the Valley of Jehoshaphat or the valley of Kidron: kidron valley or the valley of decision. And it’s in Joel 3, Revelation 16. That is the valley of judgment.
3. We talked about the Valley of Achor, where Achan and his family were stoned to death, for transgressing against the command of God, taking the devoted things from Jericho. That is in Joshua 7. That is the valley of painful death; because it is very painful to die by stoning.
4. The Valley of Gehinnom or Gehenna or the valley of the son of Hinnom is a valley of perpetual burning of refuse. We find that in 2 Chronicles 28, Jeremiah 27, where backslidden people of Israel offered their children to Molech, by burning them alive. This is the valley of the judgment of hell.
5. Then Valley of Jezrel where jezebel met her death at the hand of Jehu. 2 Kings 9. That is the valley of retribution, and we said that these valleys would give no body any reason to smile. There is no good news from these valleys. But I said the story changes when God upon invitation comes into the valley. That led us to the discussion: with God in the valley of life.
6. We looked at the Valley of Elah where David fought and killed Goliath; and we saw that David went into that battle with God. That is in 1 Samuel 17. He said to Goliath, “You come to me with sword and spear and with javelin. But I come to you in the name of Jehovah, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. David went into that battle with God, and we know the rest of the story. He came out of it with the head of Goliath in his hand.
7. The Valley of Berachah in (2 Chron. 20:22-27) where Jehoshaphat who feared greatly because of the large army that came against him, the Moabites and the Ammonites and other kings. But they went into that valley with God, and they came out victoriously. And there they blessed God. They worshiped God they praised God, and it was called for that reason, the Valley of Berachah. There are two blessing there. God blessed them; they blessed God. But it’s interesting to note that it is the second they blessing God that gave that valley the name, Berachah. O it pays to bless God. It pays to praise him. Paul and Silas were praising Him in their valley in the jail in Philippi and God showed up and delivered them.

Let’s go to the next valley,

8. The Valley of the Shadow of Death. We read in Psa. 23:24, ⁴ Even, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
   I will fear no evil; [why?]
   For You [God – Jehovah] are with me;
   Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

The most elusive, sneaky, dangerous, powerful, and wicked terrorist we contend with today is death. If you want to prove this you read (Heb. 2:14), how he terrorizes men and women on the face of the earth. Death meets people in a Valley called the Valley of Death. Without God, the most powerful, without God, the richest man or woman, melts with fear at the Valley of Death. “History tells us,” somebody wrote, the story of the renowned atheist, Voltaire, one of the most aggressive antagonists of Christianity. He wrote many things to undermine the church, and once said of Jesus Christ, “Curse the wretch. In 20 years, Christianity will be no more. My single hand will destroy the edifice it took 12 apostles to build.” But on his deathbed, a nurse who attended him was reported to have said, “For all the wealth in Europe, I would not see another atheist die.” The physician who waited upon Voltaire was a Frenchman, at his death, said that he cried out with utter desperation “I am abandoned by God and man. I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months of life. Then I shall go to hell and you will go with me, oh, Christ, oh, Jesus Christ!”

In the valley of death!

Compare that with Stephen’s last words when he walked through the Valley of Death: ” Stephen said, in Acts 7:56, look I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”  And then he said in verse 59, Lord

Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he prayed for those who were executing him, Lord, do not charge them with this sin.

A child of God going through the valley of death is different from when somebody who does not know Christ goes through the valley of death. King David is another witness to what happens when a child of God goes through the Valley of death with God. Let’s read it again, Psalm 23

(Psa. 23:4): “4 Yea [or yes], though l walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You see, when the child of God goes through the valley of death death becomes a  shadow; and never in history has a shadow of a gun killed anybody; never in history has the shadow of a bulldog beaten anybody. That means when we go through the shadow of the valley of death with the Lord, death loses its power.

Finally,

9. The Valley of Dry Bones. In (Ezek. 37:1-14)

• ls your spiritual life dead as dry bones? You are merely going through the motions only the pleasures of sin are the things that keep you going. And you look forward to them, and at the end there is no satisfaction. You may be saying what Israel said in the valley of dry bones, Ezekiel 37:11b

 ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!

l have good news for you. The prophetic Word of God and the Wind (the Spirit of God) will give you life, strength, and you will stand upon your feet like a great soldier, in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Life is easy, this song says,  when you’re up on the mountain‘ And you‘ve got peace of mind like you’ve never known. But then things change and you’re down in the valley. Don’t lose faith for you’re never alone.  And the chorus of the refrain of that song says,

Chorus

For the God on the mountain is God in the valley; When things go wrong, He’ll make them right. And the God of the good times is still God in the bad times. The God of the day is still God in the night.

PRAYER

Father, we are thankful to You for seeing us through this message. It is my prayer, dear Lord, that my friends in radioland  will submit themselves to you especially those who have never done so so that You would take them through the valley of life. And those who are going through the valley of life now I pray, Father, that You see them through…in Jesus Name. Amen!