Day 146 - God of the Mountains and the Valleys

Today's Reading: 1 Kings 20,21 and 2 Cor. 1

In today's Bible reading, this verse really struck me:

"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." (1 Kings 20:28)

So here we have Ahab who is king of Israel, one of the most provoking kings yet to stand in this office (the Bible says, "There was none like Ahab which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up"), and yet God had already allowed him to defeat the Syrian's once. And now He gives Ahab promises of blessings in battle again.

What is going on with the hills and the valleys... This was a little confusing to me, but at such time, commentaries can help bring some clarity. Here's some comments that I found enlightening:

"Ben-hadad is advised by those about him concerning the operations of the next campaign. They advised him to change his ground, 1Ki 20:23. They took it for granted that it was not Israel, but Israel's gods, that beat them, but they speak very ignorantly of Jehovah.... supposing him altogether such a one as their imaginary deities, they fancied he was confined to his hills, and could not or would not come down from them, and therefore an army in the valley would be below his cognizance and from under his protection. Thus vain were the Gentiles in their imaginations concerning God, so wretchedly were their foolish hearts darkened, and, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." (Matthew Henry Commentary)

The Syrians very quickly discovered Israel's God is not confined to the hills... He's equally capable on the valleys. Although Israel's army was like two little flocks of goats compared to the Syrians who filled the whole country (1 Kings 20:27), God blessed Israel and they again defeated the Syrians. In the battle, Israel killed one hundred thousand foot soldiers. The Syrians who escaped tried to take up positions on the walls of the city of Aphek, but the walls collapsed, killing twenty-seven thousand of them. God indeed showed who was God!

However, as I was reading this story, I was also thinking of the personal application!

What is God to us? Is He only the God of the hills? There are times of heavenly bliss when we seem naturally to stand with God on the holy mountains. We have our Moriah, our Pisgah, our Tabor, our Hermon experiences. But is that all? No! God is with us in the valleys. When we descend into the valley of weeping (Psa 84:6), the valley of the shadow of death, the valley of obscurity and loneliness, the valley of conflict, we can say with the psalmist, “Thou art with me” (Psa 23:4). Most of us, perhaps, spend the larger part of life in the valleys, walking among commonplace duties, facing common place every day life, temptations and struggles. Let us see to it that in these shadowed days we walk in close companionship with our heavenly Friend, and that even in the valleys we can stand strong, knowing that God is standing with us. Then we can also say, as did Paul in 2 Cor 1:4, "Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." (Some of these thoughts originated from the Believer's Bible, but I have edited and modified them to suit my thinking!)

I'm thankful that we serve the God of the mountains AND the valleys!

Tomorrow's Reading: 1 Kings 22, Ps. 60,61