THE VALLEY OF FRUITFULNESS

Francis Frangipane The battles we face often bring times of weakness, distress and bewilderment. If our lives were a graph, these would be the lowest points on the chart. Yet, God is not less there than at any other time. For these valleys are often as much the plan of God as our mountain-top experiences. There is a story in the Bible which speaks plainly of this principle. “Then a prophet came near to the king of Israel, and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself and observe and see what you have to do; for at the turn of the year the king of Aram will come up against you. Now the servants of the king of Aram said to him, ‘Their gods are gods of the mountains, therefore they were stronger than we; but rather let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they...’” (1 Kings 20:22- 23). The enemy said that the Lord was only a god of the mountains. They assumed that if they fought the people of God in the valleys they would win. However, we read: “Then a man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel and said, ‘Thus says the Lord, Because the Arameans have said, ‘The Lord is a god of the mountains, but He is not a god of the valleys;’ therefore, I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord’” (1 Kings 20:28). Regardless of what the enemy tries to do to you, our God is a God of the mountains and of the valleys. He has not stopped being God because you happen to be in a valley. He is the God of glory, power, and miracles, and He is God in our difficulties and battles. In all things He remains our God. On mountain tops we can see for great distances but in a valley we may only be able to see a very short distance - while we are in the valleys of life we tend to lose our perspective. However, this is where we learn to walk by faith, and often we get closer to the Lord because we must get closer in order to see Him. In the valleys we learn to carefully stay on the path and not drift to the left nor to the right. The valley are just as important to our spiritual development as the places of great vision and per-spective. We must embrace each as we are led to it. Valleys are also the most fertile places on earth. It is through valleys that rivers flow, crops are planted and produce harvested. Indeed, fruitfulness does not come on mountain tops, it comes when God is with us in the valleys. As the psalmist declared, “How blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee; in whose heart are the highways to Zion! Passing through the valley of Baca, they make it a spring” (Psalm 84:5-6). Baca means “weeping.” Everyone has valleys of weeping. There are valleys where our hearts are crushed, but, when our hearts are set upon God we “pass through” these difficulties and actually change them into “springs” from which others can benefit. The very things which may seem to overwhelm us, in time, will refresh us with life, and others also. How did Jesus do wonderful works? The Word tells us He was a man of sorrows, plural. He was acquainted with grief. He was crushed for our transgressions. The griefs and sorrows we face, if we allow Christ to be formed in us, will also be used by God to deliver others. During our times of trial, the enemy will try to isolate us, and cause us to doubt God’s love. When that happens we must seize the opportunity to grow in our faith and believe even when we do not feel. The Lord loves us. Every single need, every pain, even the hairs on our head are numbered. Every opportunity that we have to doubt His love is also an opportunity to grow in faith. Never doubt that God cares, and that “all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). He does all things with your best interest in mind. In every confrontation with the enemy there is an opportunity for a victory over that enemy, so we can be free from oppression and so that He can use us to deliver others. In Genesis 41 we find the story of Joseph. Joseph was the second youngest of Jacob’s sons. He was his father’s favourite. His walk with God began with dreams and visions from God. Joseph is a pattern for everyone who has a calling from God. We start off with visions and dreams and great hope. Then God begins to work in us and allows adversity to come so that He can perfect us. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers. He was unjustly accused when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him. He was imprisoned and forgotten by all except God, Who was watching Joseph’s reactions to difficulty. Rich or poor, Joseph was serving God. He was being tested, but he was passing God’s tests. Finally, at the right moment, the Lord supernaturally put all the details of Joseph’s life in place. Everything that Joseph went through may have seemed futile, except that in the midst of it God was shaping a man for His purpose. God uses everything we go through for missions that He alone knows. We may not see His ultimate plan while we are in the valley. Even on the mountain tops we may only see glimpses of what is to come. God sees the end from the beginning. Just as He allowed Joseph to go through many trials, so He allows us to go through these same difficulties as well. God caused Joseph to forget the difficulty and pain of his life as we read, “And Joseph named the first-born Manasseh, ‘For,’ he said, ‘God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household’” (Gen. 41:51). There is something about the Lord’s ability to cause all things to work together for good in such a way that, upon reflection, the difficulty can barely be remembered. By the time Joseph had his second son there was an even greater victory, “And he named the second Ephraim, ‘For,’ he said, ‘God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction’” (Gen. 41:52). By this time he had not just forgotten the past, but used the experiences to bear fruit in his present circumstances. God made him fruitful in the very things that had afflicted him, and He will do the same for us. The specific aspect of our life where God is seeking to make us more fruitful is found in the very land of our affliction. Ultimately, the Lord will touch many others with the substance of what we have gained. In a world that is superficial, Christ will produce something in us which is deep and living. However, we cannot get it by just living on mountain tops - we must pass through the valleys as well! So the Lord delivers us from one thing after another. He delivers us by exposing the thing we need and as our soul submits to Him in that very area, Jesus will start to come forth. We are not talking about a religion about Jesus, we are talking about the Living Christ in our thoughts, in our lives and in our words. Some of us have wondered what is going on in the valley where we find ourselves. It is very simple - God is calling you to become fruitful right there. In the battle, the time of not knowing what will happen next, God is seeking to bring forth virtue. He will make you fruitful in the land of your affliction.