Rodney Brown
1 Kings 20: 22-30 to “were left”
Joel 3: 14
Psalm 23: 1-4
Nehemiah 2: 11-15
Psalm 84: 4-7
These scriptures all have reference to valleys. The challenge is raised in the scripture we read in 1 Kings 20 that the God of Israel was "a god of the mountains" but He was not "a god of the valleys". God showed what folly there was in that statement, and I have been thinking about that. There are times in our histories that are marked by what we may call a valley character, and I believe in the experience of many here, indeed us all, there are things currently marked by that character. There is pressure on the saints in various ways, pressures of health, bereavement; a number of brethren in this area that have been taken recently. There is pressure in employment; there is pressure in the testimony in view of the departure of some. The brethren feel these things. These are what you might call valley experiences. They are not wrong experiences. There are some such experiences that we go through that we get ourselves into. I suppose the second scripture I have read comes into that category. While I suppose we have all gone through the valley of decision at some point, it is not intended that we should remain in it, nor is it intended that we should remain in any of these valleys; because the great thing to lay hold of is, not only that God is "a god of the valleys", but He is also "a god of the mountains". Even the Syrians acknowledged that. There was no doubt in their mind that the great truths were founded and established and could not be assailed. The enemy here acknowledged that, and we could apply some of the scriptures in the New Testament to bear that out. When the Lord Jesus cast out the demons, the demons acknowledged who was there. There is something which even the enemy has to acknowledge. Only men do not acknowledge it, men like you and me that have not come into the blessing as we have come into it. So, what I would seek to encourage us in is that God is "a god of the valleys", and as we go through these exercises He can support us in them, and He can bring us out of them, and He can bring about a glorious result, because really our experiences which speak of the valley and the experience that speaks of the mountain go on at the same time, and one subserves the other. The eternal day will render testimony to that. While we are in these valleys that may seem difficult; the main thing is to find God in them, to find the God of the valleys and to rely on Him rather than on ourselves, and to seek help from Him because He alone can bring in help.
This is a particularly dark period in the history of the children of Israel. This king was abominable. Think of what he did in the next chapter in relation to Naboth and his vineyard. I am not really speaking about the state that was found in Israel at this point, but the ability of God to bring in help, almost as a direct consequence of this challenge which is brought up, that the God of Israel is not "a god of the valleys". What folly! Think of the hymn that we have sung, of the way the Lord Jesus has gone: ‘Thou didst measure then sin’s distance‘, Hymn 298. Think of the sorrow of the Lord Jesus, everything that He took on; is He not the "god of the valley"? Has He not conquered the domain of death? He has, and He has come out of it triumphant, and there is therefore no area where He does not have free sway. He has been there, He has conquered it, and He is no longer there, and therefore there is no fear in it for the Christian. Wonderful matter! I would seek to establish my own soul in the truth of these things and to encourage us all, for these are real things, and I believe the affections and the body feelings amongst the saints are operative at the moment, perhaps in a particular way; and God would encourage us that He is "a god of the valleys". He is over these things; He will bring about a wonderful result for His own pleasure, and He is doing so. It is only a chapter since Elijah had to be reminded that there were seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal, v 18. So it shows what a dark period this was, but God has His reserves, and He has His reserves today. I think one application that could be made as to this scripture is that Satan is content to acknowledge that there are objective truths of Christianity. That bears, too, on what we had in the reading, that these objective truths stand and cannot be assailed; but what he is set on is to destroy the enjoyment the people of God have. He would leave them with these objective truths, saying, ’These things are too great for you. You cannot possibly go in for them’. That is what Satan would seek to do. That is why this challenge is raised that "he is not a god of the valleys”. But God is in the valleys, and He is bringing through a result in the hearts and souls of persons like you and me, and He is using a time like this to assure us that He is over these things. He is the "god of the valleys", and there is a result. What a result there was here, a hundred thousand footmen slain in a day. To get the benefit of these valley exercises requires that we ourselves are humble. "And the children of Israel here were numbered and victualled, and … encamped before them like two little flocks of goats". You might say, ’How defenceless, how derisory!’. What would the Syrians have thought when they saw that? Were they defeated because of that? Not at all. What is inwardly weak, what is outwardly humble, is very precious. God is supporting what is weak and what is scorned in the world, specifically and particularly, in detail, not in a general way, but in those available by way of support and it brings about this wonderful result. “The Syrians have said, Jehovah is a god of the mountains, but he is not a god of the valleys”. Well, that is a challenge that has been raised in the day in which we are, a broken day, a day of departure. Satan would seek to use that to suggest that everything is up, and that there is no point in carrying on because it is not workable: ’Why are you gathering with so few? Go elsewhere where numbers are greater’. No, dear friend, God is "a god of the valleys" and He will support His people, and He will bring them through, and He will bring them through in power.
Joel again speaks of a valley. It speaks of a day to come when judgment will come about, but it has its application to us now. “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!” Well, in application this is a valley that we have all passed through, I trust. I trust there is no-one still in the valley of decision in terms of their eternal salvation. It would be a sad thing if anyone of responsible age, who has sat under the gospel many times, still has not decided for Christ. The Lord would appeal in our time, if there is anyone here who is needing to decide, that they would decide rightly and that they may come out of this valley, that their eternal salvation might be secured. Then there are other decisions that may relate more to what I have said in relation to the previous chapter in Kings, decisions about committal, decisions about the path which is pleasing to the Lord Jesus. Perhaps there are some here who feel they are in a valley of decision. Maybe you feel torn one way and torn another. Maybe your parents want you to do something but you would rather do something else. Maybe you are here because you have respected your parents’ desire for you to be here. The Lord would appeal to you even through what is being said now, even in the reading of this scripture, if you are in the valley of decision, do not stay there. Make a decision, decide for Christ. Align yourself with what God is doing, and prove God in doing so. Seek to ask Him what you should do. He will make it clear. God delights to bring confirmation to an exercised soul. He loves to do so. So in the reality of your links with God, ask Him for help, ask Him for power, ask Him for the strength you need to overcome what is natural, what would keep you, perhaps, in the world, what would keep you in an association with persons who are not walking in the truth; and find the resolve through relying on the help that comes from above to decide, to move out of this valley. This is a valley that we have all been in, there are points in our lives when decisions have to be made. As these things are gone through in our souls: may there be a definite outcome and may there be a positive outcome, and may it be in line with what God is doing, the "god of the valleys", because He would seek to bring you onto higher ground than the valley of decision. He would seek to encourage you and build you up and strengthen you and bring you into a living system to enjoy things as you should be enjoying them.
Then I read in Psalm 23 because we really need to know the Shepherd in these things, “Jehovah is my shepherd”. This is, you might say, an individual exercise which may relate to a valley later on. It speaks of “the valley of the shadow of death”, but, “Jehovah is my shepherd” and, as we prove Him there, and as we prove Him anywhere, there is the help and the resource that we need to get through that valley. “He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me”. So you might say the "god of the valleys" in the Person of the Lord Jesus is available, the Shepherd, my Shepherd. Have you found Him to be thus, dear friend, dear young friend? Have you “returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls”, 1 Pet 2: 25? Do you know the Lord Jesus in that way, the One that cares for you, the One that protects you, the One that guides you, the One that brings you through, that does things for you that you cannot do yourself? Well, you can know that One and, if you have drooped a bit, if you are in need of revival, He is available to restore your soul through wonderful Shepherd care for the sheep. He knows each one. I want to draw out what relates to this experience, a very real experience, an experience that many have passed through; but the Lord Jesus is there and He is available, and as we go through these things with Him there is a wonderful formative effect and result that cannot be achieved any other way. It has been said that the Christian, in particular, feels the reality of these things. Think of the Lord’s feelings in dealing with death at the tomb. It says, “Jesus wept”, John 11: 35. Think of what the Lord went through. Again I refer to that hymn, what a hymn it is. I trust the reality and the depth of it has sunk into your soul and may produce a result. “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”. We heard in the reading that what is light to us becomes law to us, the need of regulation. The rod would bring that about. We need to submit, we need to be subject to what the Lord is doing and maybe through discipline or guidance in His ways with us we need to know what the rod is, before we can prove what the staff is by way of support, priestly support. We had reference again to that in the reading, the Lord Jesus as our High Priest who is able to sympathise with us in our infirmities. What a blessed resource we have! So as we experience this, and I suppose it comes on us all and it will do as it has done recently, we may be encouraged to go through with the Lord Jesus, to prove the restfulness and what the green pastures speak of and to be led beside still waters. These are very blessed things, and I say again that the outcome of an experience like this, proving that God is a God of this valley, will produce depth in the soul that nothing else will. The Lord has been into death.
We have referred to Nehemiah. I think it has been rightly said that the Lord Jesus came in by way of the valley-gate. The valley-gate has been likened in ministry (CAC vol 9 p473) to what comes out in Philippians 2, the One who “did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself” (v 6, 7) and He came into this scene. What a matter that is. Think of the depths to which the Lord Jesus went. Not only that, He humbled Himself as a Man and He went into death, “and that the death of the cross”, and He has dealt with death gloriously and victoriously. Nonetheless, the valley-gate still has application for us as we move here, and again, we would seek to move here humbly as Nehemiah did. His movements here are very comely. He was in Jerusalem for three days. These three days would be significant. Think of the Lord Jesus in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, a complete period in that sense. “And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me ... And I went out by night by the valley-gate, even toward the jackal-fountain, and to the dung-gate; and I viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were in ruins”. That is what the enemy of our souls would seek to suggest very obviously now, ’Everything is in ruins, there is nothing left. Why are you wasting your time?’. I think Nehemiah has the answer to that, and looking round this room I think we can see the answer to that in the faces of the brethren in terms of what is being maintained here and sustained in the power of the Spirit. We are in a day of departure, we are in a day of public ruin, and it is right that we feel these things; and Nehemiah felt them. He went out by night by the valley-gate. Think of his sorrow when he saw the state that the fountain-gate had got into, suggesting no room being made for the Spirit, nothing of life springing up. That is what we covet in our occasions, is it not? That is what we covet in our links with divine Persons, that there should be freshness and power and life springing up. “And I went up in the night through the valley, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the valley-gate and returned”. It puts you in mind of the expression, ’the broken-hearted churchman’; we should all feel the public breakdown, and you can see the truth of that in the times in which we are, but Nehemiah did not leave it at that, he did not just view the ruins and shrug his shoulders and go back. He did something about it. I suppose the teaching would be that in his own soul he established these things. In actuality he built it up again, and in the next chapter we have these gates being built, and their beams being laid and set up, and their locks and their bars and what was repaired there is gone through in detail. The detail is tremendous. What a variety of persons! It has often been said that the valley-gate was repaired, chap 3: 13. Some of the gates were not repaired, they were built. It seems almost as if they were beyond repair, but the valley-gate was repaired, and the dung-gate was repaired, and the fountain-gate was repaired. The enemy sought to pour scorn on all that was happening, and Tobijah said, "if a fox went up, it would break down their stone wall", chap 4: 3. They are contemptuous in that way, but Nehemiah kept going, and for myself there are times when I feel the need just to keep going in quietness, using the words of our scripture in the reading, “that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all piety and gravity”, 1 Tim 2: 2. I think we just keep going because we know the rightness of the things we are engaged with, and we know what the outcome is going to be. The outcome is assured. As we have had in the initial scripture, there is no question as to the outcome. We need to be exercised that our lives are in accordance with that outcome now, and that there is something being formed in the saints that is going to come out in display in a coming day.
Later in the same book you have the great culmination of the repair, and that is a tremendous thing. These two choirs, that perhaps relates more to the "god of the mountains", chap 12. One choir that went one way has been spoken of as the service of God. The other choir that went the other way is administration manward, as it has been suggested in ministry. All I wanted to bring out of that is the triumph and the unity that marked these choirs as they ascended, and that is what we enjoy together in the service of God. There is a procession; it has been said that you do not want to find yourself outside of that procession. There is a great procession, an ascending line, but it has its roots morally in what the valley-gate speaks about and it cannot be arrived at any other way. It requires that these things are gone through in reality and in humility, as feeling the breakdown but not being deterred by it; in our own souls, going over the principles that have been stood for in the time of recovery. The reference to the gate of the old wall again in chapter 3: 6 suggests principles that have been long established, first principles you might say. That needs to be insisted upon. There is no other way for the choirs to ascend. There is no shortcut to these things. There is no other way. The principles of fellowship are just that. They have to be insisted upon because without them the wall would not be built, and without them the service of God could not go on as it does go on. So I would seek to encourage us that while these exercises are just that, exercising and sorrowful exercises, there is a need to be maintained in them because there is an objective. We are not going through these exercises for the exercises’ sake. We are not bearing them stoically. We are bearing them because we have the light in our souls about what the outcome will be, and I trust everyone in this room has that light in their soul, and I trust everyone has that assurance and is established in what is going to be brought out, not only in a coming day, but in the lives of persons now. I was thinking of that in relation to those the Lord has taken. Think of the knowledge of God in these persons and of the experience with God of these persons. Think of what they enjoyed in terms of what we are going over now. All these things are not for nothing. They have gone before us as examples for us. In that way it would encourage us to go on with things, and to be maintained in things, because that is in accordance with God’s desires.
There are many other valleys that could be referred to, many exercises through which the people of God pass. There are some things that are self-inflicted, but still, as there is a resort to the presence of God and a return to humility and a humble spirit, things are brought about according to the divine end. I was thinking in that way of Joshua 7. Joshua went into the valley in relation to Ai when Achan buried the garment in his house. That was a very sorrowful exercise, but that, too, comes out in the minor prophets: the valley of Achor is there for a door of hope, Hos 2: 15. So there is always a way back, even if we are in a valley, you might say, of our own making, because we have trusted in ourselves and our own power to get through something and we have been completely humiliated in trying to do so. There is always a way back because, as we are often reminded, the point of departure is the point of recovery, and I suppose the valley of Achor for a door of hope would speak of that.
I wanted to turn to Psalm 84, because again there is a valley, “Passing through the valley of Baca”, that is ’weeping’, “they make it a well-spring”. It is just to bring out that these exercises go on in tandem with what we enjoy in God’s house, because it is from that standpoint that this valley is gone through and that this well-spring is arrived at. “Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be constantly praising thee. Selah. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, - they, in whose heart are the highways”, v 4. Well, these are very commendable features and these are features that we would covet, and we are glad to say we see them amongst the saints. These are fine features, “in whose heart are the highways”. These are persons who are self-judged; they enjoy the presence of God; they know what it is to dwell in His house. They are not earth-dwellers in that sense, “they will be constantly praising thee”,. Even as that is so, there are still exercises that have to be gone through which have the character of the valley of Baca but, as we go through them from the standpoint of what we are enjoying with God and with His people, as the matter of praise is maintained, then, while these exercises are sorrowful and result in weeping, the outcome is a well-spring. There is no doubt as to that, “the early rain covereth it with blessings. They go from strength to strength: each one will appear before God in Zion”. So something again of what is of the mountains is coming into view. The well-spring would speak of that. There is a motive power that the saint knows as he goes through these matters which spring up and which eventuate in what is for God: “they make it a well-spring; …. They go from strength to strength: each one will appear before God in Zion”.
Well, these are wonderful things. These matters that saints are passing through, I know very little about them; other brethren here have experienced and are passing through things in a deep way. But the great end is being reached, and I think we can see that. There is what is of the well-spring. There is what is consistent with Zion. It is spoken of in another Psalm as “the hill of his holiness. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion … the city of the great King”, Ps 48: 1-2. You get a lift when you read a verse like that. How, then, the valley of Baca can be turned into a well-spring as we enjoy these matters. There is one other thing to note about Zion: we have to "Walk about Zion ... count the towers thereof; Mark ... her bulwarks, consider her palaces: that ye may tell it to the generation following”, Ps 48: 12-13. There is a need to make these things attractive to the generation following. I do not mean in a novel way; I do not mean in a way which is contrary to the truth as we hold it, but the best way to tell it to the generation following is to be the exemplification of it ourselves, and I feel that now more than I have ever done, “For this God is our God”. We had in the reading as to "my God", and as we grow in the knowledge of God there is what flows out of that. The telling it to the generation following may take the form of teaching, and we need teaching, we need instruction, but we also need example. That is the best way to attract persons into it, I would say, and the measure in which I have been attracted into it has been through taking account of the effect of these truths in the lives of believers. Some of them are in this room, others have gone on before us, but nonetheless there is a very powerful testimony as to what God can do as the God of the valleys in the lives of persons such as you and me. Now, He is the God of the mountains, of what is beyond any doubt, the great cardinal truth of Christianity, the truths which we hold which are not ours alone, but we hold them on behalf of all believers; these are great truths. These mountains relate to the purpose of God. These cannot be shaken; they cannot be overthrown. It is not in man’s power to do so, but this challenge will come up from time to time, and perhaps with increasing insistence from some, ’What if that is true?’. What about the valleys? What about the working out of these things practically? Well, the answer to that is in the same God, the God whom we know, the One who is the God of the valleys, the One who will bring us through and the One in whose hands this wonderful result is assured. May we be in line with what God is doing in these things, and may the Lord bless the word! For His Name’s sake.
Kirkcaldy
4th February 2012