A lad comes home from school and excitedly tells his dad that he had a part in the school play and he was playing a man who had been married for 25 years. The dad says, "Never mind son, maybe next year you'll get a speaking part."
How Green is my Valley
Remember the movie.. made in the 1940’s nominated for 10 awards won 5, a story of a Welsh family of miners that had hopes of allowing their youngest to free himself from the family lergacy of working in the mine, two things struck me
How hard their life was and how exploited they were and despite this
Their deep family ties and their commitment to God
Only recently did I begin to understand the title.. How green was my Valley in relation to all things not physical or materialistic but to the depth of that which you cannot buy.
And that’s what I am going to talk about today.
First of all let me say that because you are in a valley it does not mean that it is a spiritual valley! In fact it never has to mean that, in fact quite the opposite. Today Im not going to really talk about spirititual valleys.
But lets have a look a few that went through this Gen 21 15 Hagar and Ischmael sent out. Hagar: I cannot watch the boy die she began to sob… can you imagine!
In Exodus 4.. Moses brought up in royalty, murders and Egyptian and flees, ends up being a herder… Ex 2: “during that long period the King of Egypt died, the Israelites groaned and cried out. God approaches Moses. Ex 410 His confidence is shattered he is effectively a nobody, a murderer. He is running on empty. He does not want to go. “ The Lord said to him” Who gave man his mouth?Who makes him deaf or dumb? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I the Lord
What about Jacob, when he had thought he had lost Joseph, Simeon and now Benjamin…”Everything is against me”
Let me tell you valleys are well populated!
Let me tell you about Myrtie Howell. Myrtie was a devoted Christian woman. But she had lived a hard life. Her family was very poor. When she was 10, she quit school and went to work in a steel mill for 10 cents a day. She married at age 17. But in early 1940, her husband was killed in an accident. And when that happened, she lost her home and had to go back to work to support herself and her three kids.
Years later, her declining health forced her to move into a old, high-rise nursing home. A few weeks later, her youngest son died. And that’s when she fell into a depression. She said, "Lord, what more can I do for you? I’ve lost everything that ever meant something to me. And now I’m stuck in this dark, dreary room. I have nothing left to live for! I want to die! I’ve had enough of this prison. Take me home."
But then God spoke to her as clearly as possible. He said, "I’m not through with you yet, Myrtie. Write to prisoners."
So she wrote a letter and sent it to the Atlanta Penitentiary. And this is what the letter said: "Dear inmate. I am a grandmother who loves and cares for you. I am willing to be a friend. If you’d like to hear from me, write me. I will answer every letter you write. A Christian friend, Grandmother Howell."
The letter was given to the prison chaplain. And he gave her the names of eight prisoners she could write to. Prison Fellowship gave her some more names. Soon, she was corresponding with up to 40 inmates a day. She became a one-woman ministry reaching into prisons all over America.
She said, "I thought my life was over. But these past few years have been the most fulfilling years of my life! I thank Prison Fellowship! And most of all, I thank Jesus!"
We might think that in all those examples God did something wonderful and got them out of it.. and He did! But its not always like that, look what happened to John the Baptist…. Beheaded, crucifixtion of many (excruciating pain), Tyndal strangled to death then burned at the stake! But here is what might shock you- it’s a good place to be!
So would you rather be in the High places? And you know there are spititual some issues about worshipping in the “High Places”.
Not talking spiritually now, what do we think is a good place to be, nice and healthy, lots of money in the bank super, the pleasures of life, TVs, cars phones, holidays abroad, be proud of your job and work you have done, got to look good so nice clothes and nice furniture,
Let me be a warning these very things that”lift” us from the valley is our greatest threat we face in Christ especially here in Australia. Where we have so much.
2 Tim 1: But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power.
We live in an age of pursuit of pleasure, especially to the pleasures of the senses (called hedonism) and when we are blinded by its glitter and when don’t have some kind of pleasure or the finances scare us or security blanket is pulled off us we think we are in the deepest of valleys. The truth is when we have what we want we don’t have what we need because what we need are a Ps 52 a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart
A case in point is John Donne a seventeeth centuary poet-
his father in law had him fired from his job and had him blackballed from a career in law- in desperation he turned to the church as an Anglican priest-
his wife Anne died leaviving him 7 children and a few years later he saw spots on his body-
1623 he got bubonic plague- nothing made sense- he had finally reached a point in his life where he may be of some service to God- but now all that was left was a future of pain fever and death..
Looking out his bedroom windowhe heard the church bells ring- thought they were his impending death- but were for a neighbourr- and he wrote the famous Meditations XV!!- no man is an island…for whomthe bells toll, it tolls for thee- he began to examine his own life-
trials had purged him of sin,
poverty had taught him dependence on God- removed his greed and
public disgrace cured him of earthly ambhitions-
pain could be transformed- it could be redeemed and he directed his energy to prayer- journaling (“Devotions”)and confessions of sins
“ I can read my affliction as a correction, or as mercy and I confess I know not how to read it How should I understand this illness. I cannot conclude though death conclude me. If it is correction indeed let me translate it and read it as mercy for though it may appear to be a correction I can have no greater proof of your mercy than to die in thee and by that death to be united to him who died for me-
Math 25:34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
You see the opposite of hedonism is to let go, to give… a mite is fine.
More and more when I study the Bible I see the problem of self particularly sensual self, as being the root cause of much of the sin in our world today, look at drugs, sexual abuse , murder, adultery etc. You have heard of storm chasers, now we are becoming self chasers!
Luke 12
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
You See Gods word is like….. (Luke 8:14)
4 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
Do Not Worry 22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life[b]? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
37 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
15 The word of the Lord came to me: 16 “Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, ‘Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, ‘Belonging to Joseph (that is, to Ephraim) and all the Israelites associated with him.’ 17 Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand.
18 “When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you tell us what you mean by this?’ 19 say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in Ephraim’s hand—and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick. I will make them into a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’ 20 Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on 21 and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. 23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding,[b] and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
I want to encourage you to speak (like ezekial to prophesy) into the situations where there is separation, there is division where there is conflict where there is trauma and to hold the sticks together so that God can join, can heal, can restore in the spiritual realm what you cannot see in the Physical and then to let go and Trust Him in the spititual realm. Beacause that is all you are called to do
2 Kings 6 : 17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Let me tell you a final story about Mr Spafford, an attorney living in Chicago in the 1800’s, a very wealth Christain man with wife and four daughters. One year it was decided to send his wife and 4 daughters to Europe by boat. Their ship collided in mid Atlantic , his 4 daughters drowned and his wife made it to France and she sent this cable “All Lost, I remain alone, what shall I do” At the same time there was a crash in the banks and he had lost all his wealth and possesions had become a poor man. His response was to write a hymn which goes like this
When peace like a river attendeth my way
When sorrows like the sea billows roll
Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well with my soul!
So there we have it if you are in the valley- you have fertile ground, have a read of Jeremiah 29, not the bit that says I know the plans for you but before that, where he says when you are in exile, “ build houses and settle down, plant gardens and eat what they produce, seek peace and properity there, pray to the Lord… makes your selves at home its where he wants you right now. If you have God you have everything you need!