because of the valley

The Word for today:
1 Kings 20

mark this : 1 Kings 20:23, 28 --
Then the servants of the king of Syria said to him, "Their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than we; but if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than they."
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.' "

We've heard this charge before, when Satan told God that Job was faithful only because God blessed him. Satan insisted that Job would turn away from God if he were made to go through "valley" circumstances (Job 1:6-11). So God temporarily took away Job's riches and his health in order to prove that Job trusted Him even when blessings were withdrawn.

In the same way, God chooses some of us to walk with Him through the dark valleys:
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 (1).

If you're in the valley, then it may be that you've been chosen --
chosen to walk with God, who walked up the slopes of Mt. Moriah beneath the shadow of his cross;
chosen to demonstrate that the valley of the shadow is the mountaintop of our faith.

We don't trust Jesus despite the valley. We trust Him because of the valley.

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(1) Psalm 23:4