Mark Sorensen “Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life” -Psalm 23:6
It’s a strange feeling boxing up your life. Seriously. We have lived in the house we are soon to be moving from for over nine years. It’s unbelievable how much stuff a family can accumulate in that amount of time. Add to that the number of books and seminary texts I have in my office and you have some pretty heavy boxes. Each with their own labels. Some of them classified, “school stuff”, others labeled, “Family Memories” and one labeled, “Dad’s Toys. Do not touch” (That would be the box with the John Wesley bobble-head, my six million dollar man action figure from my childhood, miniature working R2D2 and my Millenium Falcon with working flashing lights and light-speed sound effects). None the less, it’s been fun flipping through books and seeing the tags and markings I have made in the margins of books past. One, specifically, jumped out at me.
I confess that I write in the margins of my books. Can’t help it. Honestly, it’s a habit I developed early on in reading. One book I boxed, however, stood out to me. It had, not only a dog ear on the page, but multiple colored ink underlinings and the letters, “WTW” written in the margin in giant print (before you go too far with my acronym, it stands for, “what the what?!”… at least I think it does, back then I am not sure….) It came from My Utmost for His Highest and the quote said the following:
“The test of our spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong. It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up. We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and aesthetic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration, that is all. We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle. Spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mount. We feel we could talk like angels and live like angels, if only we could stay on the mount. The times of exaltation are exceptional, they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware lest our spiritual selfishness wants to make them the only time.”
It’s funny. I love mountaintop experiences, but I had never really thought of the journey we walk with Christ in this perspective. If we ascend to the mountain and stay there, how are we building the Kingdom of God? We were made for the valley.
Look at the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19. You find Elijah in a place that many of us find ourselves at times. Exhausted. We’re tired. He is doing the work of God but has nothing else to give so he goes to the desert to quit. Notice what God does. He feeds him. He gives him drink. THEN he tells him to go up to the mountain and reveals Himself to Elijah. Honestly, I have heard that preached on so many different occasions. But I rarely hear the rest of the Elijah story preached. After all of that, the very conflict and exhaustion that drove Elijah to the desert? God said, “get back down there and finish the work I have called you to do.” God didn’t take it all away, instead, he met him, fed him, filled him, and then said, “You’re place is not to stick around here with me. Now that you have seen me, now that you know you are not alone, get back to the work I have called you to do”. Powerful.
As I wrap up the look at the 23rd Psalm, the shepherd says, “surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life”. The sheep know that the Shepherd is never too far away that they will not be taken care of. SO, in this season of boxing and busy-ness, I am reminded that I am not alone. I am reminded in mountain top experiences that God is here, with me, moving me, working through me. But I also know that I am not solely made for the mountaintop, but God needs our devotion in the valley, as well.
The good news? We’re never alone.
God bless each of you on this 4th of July.
