Good Times and Bad Times

Everyone experiences these two times in the journey of life: good times and bad times. We have mountaintop experiences and valley experiences. Many people have this misconception that if they make better choices, they can avoid the valley time experiences altogether. The truth is that is not possible.

If you prepare yourself for something that is about to happen, you do not get shocked, scared, or dismayed when you enter that kind of season. The temptation is when your life enters a valley season, that we begin to blame God or look within ourselves for what we did to get ourselves there.

An old adage says all sunshine and no rain make a desert. You don’t want to be in a desert because nothing lives in a desert. God allows us to go through valley seasons in life to show Himself powerful for us no matter what we are going through, and often teaches us through those experiences.

Unavoidable Mountains and Valleys

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33

There is nothing that you can do in terms of prayer, fasting, giving sacrificially or otherwise to to cancel or remove these seasons. Good things happen to bad people and bad things can happen to good people. The rain and sun fall on the just and unjust (Matthew 5:44-48). The fact that we go through hard times does not mean that God is weak. Rather, it is in moments of darkness, that we experience the power of God’s light the brightest.

You might have known about God as the Deliverer but have you experienced Him as a deliverer? You might know God is the Healer but have you experienced Him as your Healer? When we experience God, it produces and increases our faith and the Bible says it is impossible to please God without faith, (Hebrews 11:6).

Valleys Are Part Of Life

“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. And the children of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and they went against them. Now the children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the countryside. 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 .’ ”

1 Kings 20:23, 27-28

Valleys are just a part of life because we live in this broken world and sinful culture (1 Peter 4:1). There is nothing you can do about them. There are valleys in everything, including business, careers, marriages, and blessings! Every promise of God carries a season of valleys that we must pass through. How we pass through these valleys determines the next mountaintop experience we receive. The question is not how do I avoid the valley but who do I go through the trial with?

God Is With You

God wants to prepare us for the challenging seasons so He can build us up to reach our destiny. Where God has called us to be requires character and character is made through passing trials. High places are slippery places and require focus, strength, and endurance. God wants to know your character in the face of trials so that when He blesses you in the next mountaintop season, that blessing will stand the test of time for His glory.

God has not abandoned you just because you experience a valley in life, (Psalm 34:19). King David notes in Psalm 23:4 that he had to go through the valley, not walk around the valley of the shadow of death. Go through it with God. God doesn’t only want you to know of Him as your Provider, He wants you to experience Him as your Provider (Isaiah 43:2).

God Has a Good Purpose For Your Valley

“We can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation and this hope will not lead to disappointment for we know how dearly God loves us because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.”

Romans 5:3-5

God is a good God and He cannot do evil; it is not in His nature. There is something He needs you to develop in your valleys to handle your mountaintops. The blessings of the Lord bring no sorrow with them, when we go through the right process to receive them. God wants to build strong faith and character in you during your valley experience.

God Will Strengthen You and Reveal Himself To You

“God will strengthen you with His own great power so that you will not give up when troubles come but you will be patient.”

Colossians 1:11

God will use your unpleasant situations to reveal Himself to you. It is God’s desire to manifest His glory and goodness to you, even in the midst of the storms and trials of life. Give Him the opportunity.

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