“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.’ ”” – I Kings 20:28 NKJV
Reading the Bible is an easy way to see that very little has changed about humans and our increasing desire to be autonomous and logical, even within our faith as Christians. There is a Bible story I love, and it is where the Israelites were fighting against the Syrians and the Syrians concluded that the only reason why the first battle was won by the Israelites was because it took place in the hills (I Kings 20:23-25 & 38-40). They said that the God of the Israelites is only one of the hills and not the valleys, therefore their next battle should be in the valley (vs. 23).
I’ve been guilty of limiting God, as the Syrians did, or failing to see the miracle of even the mundane, in our everyday lives. It’s easy to forget to thank God when I know I studied and “deserve” the grade, or fail to admire stars because they’ve always been there and I’ve always been able to see them. It’s when things are rough and God comes through that I suddenly remember that everything flows from Him. It’s from the smallest thing to the most difficult: fighting the flu and wishing that I had appreciated my clear nose, or crying grateful tears at my graduation because despite being a relatively good student all my life, university really tested my apparent intelligence.
The great thing about God is that He’ll remind you of who He is when need be.
He tends to show up and show out exactly where it is said that He can’t. So of course, He delivered the Israelites in the valleys too (vs. 29-30). I don’t know about you, but as someone well aware of her limitations, and despite my occasional forgetfulness that everything I am and have is a gift from God, there is great comfort in the knowledge that God is real, good, faithful, and that He is Lord over the hills and the valleys, figuratively and literally. It’s like having a carry-on sword that is a simultaneous comfort, one that you know will always have when step into your battle.
And it always will. He has promised that He will be with us, “even to the end of age” (Matthew 28:20). That means even when we don’t acknowledge Him, He is there. When the battle is overwhelming, He can be found in the middle of it. When everything is crumbling, He’s probably sheltering you, and especially when others underestimate you, and therefore Him by association, He will hold your peace with you. What a thing it is to be a child of the God that has authority, and handles all with care. I pray that we are reminded to give Him glory everywhere, even where our ability makes sense.
