Ep 49: The God of Mountains and Valleys

Speaker1: Hey good morning I'm Daniel Dopp and this is for your Sunday morning drive. The short podcast with the goal of putting you in a Colossians three two mindset and providing you with motivation, drive and encouragement on those hectic Sunday mornings. We are brought to you by the Ministry League network of podcasts. You can always go to Ministry league.com or download their app to see all of the great resources and other podcasts on the network. I certainly do appreciate you making us a part of your weekly routine, and if you are interested in finding ways to support the show and more information about each episode, you can find that on our website for your Sunday morning drive.com. Let's go ahead and get the show on the road. This is episode 49, the God of Mountains and Valleys. Let's go to church.

Speaker2: Are we there yet?

Speaker1: Recently, in our home Bible lessons with my daughter, we have been making our way through the history in First and Second Kings. And we just had a lesson in the last week or so that was focusing on some of the exploits of the wicked King Ahab in First Kings chapter 20, when the kingdom of Israel is pitted against the forces of the pagan nation of Aram, the people advising King Trinidad gave us some insight into their belief regarding the power of our God. First Kings 2023 says, now the servants of the king of Aram said to him, their gods are gods of the mountains. For that reason they were stronger than we. But let us fight them in the plain, and we will certainly be stronger than they. You see, it seems their idea of gods were linked with the areas that they were most powerful, that a god had its, let's say, its jurisdiction in the mountains, and might be powerful there, but would be weak outside of its area of influence. In other words, they expected Israel to be strong in the mountains, but for God's presence not to follow them into the valleys. The man of God advising Ahab certainly sees the folly in such belief when he tells the king in First Kings 2028, then a man of God approached and spoke to the King of Israel and said, this is what the Lord says. Since the Arameans have said, the Lord is a God of the mountains, but he is not a god of the valleys.

Speaker1: Therefore I will hand over to you all this great multitude, and you shall know that I am the Lord. Ultimately, of course, our God makes good on his promise. All done, by the way, to show the wicked King Ahab and the belligerent people of Israel that he is the Lord their God. Yes, a wonderful example of God's omnipotence and his faithfulness, but also I think of our own folly. We, of course, understand that God is not limited in scope to a physical mountain or a valley, but sometimes don't. We tend to act like he isn't in control of both the hills and the valleys of our lives, in our ups and downs. Don't we sometimes doubt the goodness of our God? Friends, let's not let that be the case. We should recognize the greatness of our God in both the exceeding highs and the deepest lows. A phrase popular by many states that God is good all the time, and that all the time God is good. Lamentations chapter three, 22 and 23. Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. And the faithfulness of God cannot be understated, and the fact that he is in control cannot be undermined. And the world that we live in and the things that we go through, friends, they're going to try to convince us otherwise. But Psalms one 4517 says, the Lord is righteous in all his ways, gracious in all his works, and the temptation to believe otherwise is never any stronger than when we are in our deepest valleys.

Speaker1: But God is in control there too. All things are under his feet, and Jesus is on his throne. Colossians chapter 115 through 17. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Christian, my encouragement for you today is that wherever you are, if you are on the mountain or in the valley, don't be fooled into thinking that where you are is too far out of his reach. You see, God is supreme and sovereign, not just wherever we are, but also in whatever we are going through of the highs, the lows and all the in-betweens too. So you can trust in him. Well, those are my thoughts for your Sunday morning drive. Now it's time to hear yours. Our discussion questions for this week are what things cause us to doubt the sovereignty of our God? Are we ever tempted to only trust in him in the good times? Or do we also glorify him in the bad? Is there someone in a spiritual valley that you can bring before God today in prayer? And lastly, what is a time in your life that you are thankful for in coming and surrendering all to him?