January 1943
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So, as we seek to be subject to the will of God, to endure what He in His infinite wisdom ptits upon us, He will prove that He is the God of the valley of retribution as well as of every oth er experience of life. III. The Valley of the Shadow. There is another G a l l e y through' which we all pass. We read of it in P s a l m 23:4: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of .the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me-” I said that every one of us shall pass through this val ley, and s o m e of y o u may have thought, “Oh, but if the Lord should come, we will n e v e r have to go through the valley of the shadow' of death.” % The valley of the shadow of death is not the hour of death itself; but it is that deep, dark valley through which we are called to pass when the death of a loved one casts a dark shadow over our lives. Who is there that has not passed through it! “There is no sheepfold howsoe’er de fended, But one dead lamb is there; There is no household howsoe’er pro tected, But has one vacant chair.” There is not one' of us here who has not cried out, “ ‘Oh, for the touch of a vanished hand, the sound of a voice that is still!’ ” An orphan lad whose foster mother had just died sat on the steps after the funeral service, sobbing out his little heart, and when some one tried to comfort him, he exclaimed, “Oh, I want some one to love who will never die!” Thank God, we who trust Christ have some one to love who will never die. “ I am he that liveth” is His own word. It is of Him we speak when, with the Psalmist we cry, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shad ow of>death, I will fear ho evil: for thou art with me.” He, once the Man of Sorrows, is nevertheless the God of the valleys, as truly God as truly man, and as truly man as He is truly God. Having passed through death, He is able to comfort and strengthen our hearts, as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. IV. The Valley of Berachah. Not all the valleys are dark. There is another one wjiich is the valley of gladness. We are told that when King Jehoshaphat won a great victory, he led the people of Israel into a remark able valley. “And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the val ley of Berachah; for there they blessed the Lord; therefore the name of the same place was calldd, The valley of
GOD OF THE VALLEYS [ Continued from Page 7]
But they failed Him, they acted contrary to His Word, and because of that, they have had to prove the truth of that passage, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of- the flesh reap corruption; but he'that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal. 6:7, 8). These words are spoken to the chil dren of God. Do not think for a mo ment that because we have been washed in the precious blood of Christ and-thereby do indeed have eternal life, we shall escape the result of our sins, a penalty in this present life. I know ,a splendid Christian man who in years gone by lived a life of sin. The Lord came in a wonderful way and saved him,, and that man now is as great a saint as he formerly was a sinner, but he will bear in his body the results of his former life as long as he lives. He has suffered un told agony.physically because of the path he once trod, and he has said that there' were times when he was tempted to wonder whether God had ever forgiven him. There are some results of sin from which we shall never be delivered until we receive the redemption of our bodies at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. But as we .pass through the v a l l e y of Achor, we may have the blessed pres ence of our Lord with us. Only a few weeks ago", a fine Chris tian woman who has known the. Lord only seven years, the-widow of a mil lionaire, said to me, “Pray for my boy; pray for my girl; they have no in terest in the things of God. I can never get them to hear the Word of God. They are courteous and polite if I bring a servant of the Lord to my home, but they will allow no one to say a word to them, and they will not read the Bible.” And then she added, “The worst of it is that they are what they are be cause I brought them up that way. Until seven years ago, I lived the life that they are living; I led them in the path they are now going. A Bible was never opened in my home until my husband died, and left me a bro ken-hearted woman, surrounded with all the luxuries he had given me, and I was crying out for something that could help me. Christ came to me, but it was too late to turn my chil dren’s steps in the right way. They are treading the path on w h i c h I started them.” This mother 'was passing through the valley of Achor. The Lord says; “ I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope.”
Berachah, unto this day” (2 Chron. 20:26). Berachah means what? It means blessing. Not all blessings are re ceived upon the mountain tops, in the high and great experiences of life, but many are found down in the low places, down in the valleys of the commonplace; t h e r e we also have communion with God, and happy fel lowship with Him. “In the valley with my Saviour I need never, never fear, For ’tis there His sweetest message oft is whispered in my ear. There I learn the heavenly secrets; there with-joy He fills my soul; Though the torrent rushes by me, and the chilly mists enroll.” To the God of the valleys, then, let us look for the supply of every inward need of our hearts as we move through the valleys of commonplace daily lin ing. His grace is sufficient in the val ley of Baca—the period of weeping; in the valley of Achor—the time of retribution for our sins, and in the valley Of the shadow of death as loved ones leave our side. And He likewise gives in the valley of Berachah—the valley of blessing—that gladness that shall cause us to bless the name of our wonderful Lord forever.
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