Let us turn in our Bibles today
to 1 Kings chapter 20. 1 Kings chapter 20. And my text
this morning is verse 28. 1 Kings chapter 20 and verse
28. And there came a man of God and
spake unto the king of Israel and said, thus saith the Lord,
because the Syrians have said, the Lord is God of the hills,
but he is not God of the valleys. Therefore, will I deliver all
this great multitude into thine hand, and you shall know that
I am the Lord. This verse that I've just read
is God's word spoken by, as the scripture says, a man of God
to a very wicked king of Israel by the name of Ahab. And I will
just briefly remind us of what was taking place when this word
of the Lord came to this king. The king of Syria, whose name
was Benadad, had with a very large army the year before invaded
the land of Israel. And he came boasting of how he
was going to destroy the nation of Israel. And God sent a prophet
telling Ahab that he, that is God, would deliver Syria's great
army into his hand. If you look back into verse 13. And behold, there came a prophet
unto Ahab, king of Israel, saying, thus saith the Lord, hast thou
seen all this great multitude? I mean, he had a great army,
and they had invaded his land, that is the land of Israel, hast
thou seen all this great multitude? Behold, now this is God speaking,
I will deliver it into thine hand this day, and thou shalt
know that I am the Lord. Now it certainly was not because
of Ahab's goodness that God did this. Ahab was a very wicked
king. You remember his wife, her name
was Jezebel. And they instituted idolatry
in Israel, the worship of Baal in such a large degree. God said,
I will deliver. I will deliver this great army
into thy hand, not because of your goodness, not because you
deserve it, but because God is good, because God is gracious. He did this. Now, in this case, the Lord used
232 young men, princes of Israel, to rout this large army of Syria, 232 men routed that
large army. Of course, the Lord did it, we
know that. But the battle took place in
the hill country. Well, after Benidad, that is,
this king of Syria, after his defeat, he allowed his counselors,
his advisors, to convince him that the only reason his army
had been defeated was because they had enjoyed the battle in
the hill country. And the gods of the Israelites
were gods of the hills. And all we have to do is to assemble
another army just as large and invade once again. But this time,
we won't fight them in the hills. We're going to fight them in
the valleys. Now that's where our text comes
in. God, there came a man of God
and spake unto the king of Israel and said, thus saith the Lord,
because, here's the reason, here's the reason I'm going to do this.
Because the Syrians have said the Lord is God of the hills. but is not God of the valleys. Therefore, will I deliver all
this great multitude into thine hand and you shall know that
I am God. I am the Lord. The Syrians, Ben-Hadad
and all his army, they soon learned that the Lord God The only true
and living God is God everywhere. He's not just God in the hill
country. He's God in the valleys as well. As Jeremiah spoke, can any hide
himself in secret places that I shall not see him? This is
God speaking. Is it possible that any man at
any time can ever hide himself from the Lord? Of course, the
answer is no. Do not I fill heaven and earth? God is in all places at all times,
and he is in all places in all times omnipotent, omnipotent. Don't you love the great omni
attributes of God? His omnipresence, he's everywhere
present at the same time. He's here this morning. All of
him is in this building and yet he's outside this building everywhere. He's omnipotent, he has all power. No one can stay his hand or say
unto him, what are you doing? No one can question God's works, and His omniscience as well. He knows all things. He never
learns anything. I love that 139th Psalm, which
speaks to us of God's omniscience and how there cannot be a word
upon our tongue, but He knows it all together. And that song also reminds us
that life begins in the womb, doesn't it? That he stitched
our bodies together, stitched our souls and bodies together. Now, the object of my lesson,
my message this morning is to remind us of this glorious truth. I know we are aware of it. But
I want to remind us again today that the true and the living
God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is also the
God of the valleys, not just the God of the mountains. We
all like to sing, I'm living on the mountain underneath a
cloudless sky. I'm drinking at the fountain
that never shall run dry. But the truth of the matter is,
sometimes we're not on that mountain. Sometimes, in our experience,
we are living in a valley. For whatever reason, we're not
on the mountaintop spiritually. We're in a valley. Now, we're
going to look at four passages of scripture. And in each one
of these scriptures, we're going to see a different valley that
is named. And the first one, if you will
turn to me, turn with me rather to Psalm 84. There's a valley called Baca,
Psalm 84 and verses four through seven. Our God is the God of the valleys,
not just the God of the hills, not just the God of the mountains.
He's the God of the valleys. And here we read in verse four,
blessed are they that dwell in thy house. They will be still
praising thee. Blessed is the man whose strength
is in thee, and whose heart are the ways of them, who passing
through the valley of Baca make it a well. The rain also filleth
the pool. They go from strength to strength. Every one of them in Zion appeareth
before God. This valley, this first valley
that we're going to look at, is named Baca. And you can look
on a map, you can look at a Bible atlas, and you'll never find
this valley. You'll never find this valley
on a map. The word Baca means weeping. Weeping. Martin Luther, in his
translation of the scripture into German, he translated this,
a valley of tears. A valley of tears. And many other
Bible translations have it, a valley of lamentations. Pilgrims passing
through it. Notice what the scripture says.
Verse six, who passing through the valley of Baca, Make it a
well. That is, pilgrims passing through
it, make it a well. We all know what a well is, where
water is brought forth. Gil called this a hypobolical
expression, like the one in Lamentations 2 in verse 18. Their heart cried
unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears let
tears run down like a river, day and night." And so the picture
here in this valley of Baca, a valley of tears, is that pilgrims,
that is, we believe, or at least some believe that as they made
their way to Jerusalem, to obey the command to be in Jerusalem
for the three feasts that they would encounter problems along
the way, and they would make the valley a valley of well because
of their weeping, because of their tears. And the point I
want to make is that every child of God, we too are pilgrims in
this world, and we are sure at one time or the other to go through
this valley of weeping. If you're not in it today, you
will. You may be, I should say, you
may be tomorrow. If you've been a Christian for
any time at all, you know what I'm saying. Going through some
difficulty, being tried in some way, or being perplexed at God's
providence. You know, even the Apostle Paul,
he admitted to being perplexed being misunderstood by those
that you love. Failure, failure. When we would do good, evil is
present with us. A time of testing, a time when
you can only cry out to God, when you can only shed tears,
weeping. Every child of God goes through
these valleys or this valley at one time or the other. Even Timothy, the preacher Timothy
in the New Testament, he went through this valley because the
apostle Paul wrote to him saying that he was greatly desiring
to see him being mindful of thy tears, being mindful of Timothy's
tears. And even, yes, even the apostle
Paul wrote, of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote
unto you with many tears." Now, most likely all of us have experienced
this. We've shed actual tears. Some
people maybe haven't wept actual tears, but the anguish of heart,
the anguish of soul that you have felt as you travel along
on your journey to the celestial land. There comes, or we come
into these valleys from time to time, a valley of tears, a
valley of lamentation, a valley of weeping. But the point is
that our God, our God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, He is the Lord God of the valleys also. He's not just
the God of the mountains. We have a high priest who can
be touched, the scripture says, with the feelings of our infirmities. Now these infirmities, we usually
use that word only with sicknesses, bodily sicknesses, but infirmities
includes all things that we are liable to because we are in this
body, in this world. Infirmities. We have a high priest who may
be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. We sing that hymn sometimes,
man of sorrows, what a name for the son of God who came. Even
our Lord was acquainted with grief. The scripture declares. And you know, this is certainly
true. Many times in this valley, many
times when you are weeping, when you're going through the Valley
of Baca, you are taught truths about God that you could never
learn anywhere else. Truths about his compassion,
his loving kindness, his patience, Things of this nature, truths
about God were taught in the Valley of Baca. Things
we would never learn if we were always on the mountaintop. But
in the valley, in the valley of weeping, in the valley of
lamentations, we find that our God is still God. And he still is merciful and
gracious unto his people. The second valley is a valley
called Barachah, and we find this in 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles
chapter 20. 2 Chronicles chapter 20 in verse
26. And on the fourth day, they assembled
themselves in the Valley of Berecha. For there they blessed the Lord.
Therefore, the name of the valley, the name of the same place was
called the Valley of Berecha unto this day. This valley, the
first valley we looked at, Baca, is a valley of tears. But this
valley is a valley we would call a valley of blessing. And this
alone reminds us that all of the blessings that God has for
his people are not on the mountaintop. Yes, God blesses us on the mountaintops,
but all of the blessings that he has for his people are not
given on the mountaintops, but many are given in the valley. The history of this chapter is
that three nations, three nations joined themselves against Judah,
the nation of Moab, Ammon, and the descendants of Esau. They
joined together and they would destroy the nation of Judah. Judah would be no match, no match
for them in battle. And King Jehoshaphat, he confessed
as much. I love this part of his prayer.
When they came to engage in battle, Jehoshaphat did what he only
could do, and that is he sought the Lord. He went to the Lord
in prayer. And it's such a beautiful, beautiful
prayer. If you notice in verse 12, O
our God, Wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against
this great company that cometh against us. This is what always
impresses me. Neither know we what to do. Have you ever been in that place?
When you just didn't know, you were nonplussed. What to do?
To turn to the right hand or turn to the left hand? Josaphat
confesses that they as a nation with these three invading armies
coming against them, they had no strength. And not only that,
they didn't know what to do. But, here's the next thing that's
so precious. But, our eyes are upon thee. Huh? Our eyes are upon thee. That's where our eyes should
always be fixed, right? looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. We don't know what to do. We
have no strength of our own in this matter, in this problem.
But Lord, our eyes are upon thee. In other words, we're here, Lord. What would you do for us? What would you do for us? Well, the Lord did something
for him, if you notice in verse 15. And he said, he sent a prophet
to Jehoshaphat, hearken ye all Judah and you inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, thus saith the Lord unto you,
be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude,
for the battle is not yours. It's not yours. It's God's. And don't we realize that we
as children of God are engaged always in a battle. There are
two kingdoms in this world. There's a kingdom of Satan. It's
a kingdom of darkness. And then there's a kingdom of
God's dear son. And the only way anyone is taken
out of that kingdom of darkness is to be translated by the new
birth into the kingdom of light, the kingdom of God's dear son. And so there's always this ongoing
battle in this world between good and evil, between God's
people and the children of the evil one. And the battle is the
Lord's. The battle is the Lord's. It's
not yours. It's God's. In other words, it
doesn't depend on our ability, upon our strength. Our eyes are
upon thee, upon God. He must win the battle. Remember
those words of Martin Luther's hymn. Mighty refuge is our God. O bulwark never failing. Battle is his, not ours. Tomorrow, now this is what the
message declared unto the king and to his people. Tomorrow,
go you down against them. Behold, they come up by the cliff
of Zis, and you shall find them at the end of the brook before
the wilderness of Jeruel. You shall not need to fight in
this battle. Set yourselves Stand you still
and see the salvation of the Lord with you. Oh, Judah and
Jerusalem, fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow, go out against them,
for the Lord will be with you. The Lord told Jehoshaphat after
his prayer that he would not need to fight. that God would
fight for them, that God would deliver them. All Judah, all
Jehoshaphat and the nation of Israel, all they were to do was
to sing. That's strange, isn't it? To go against these invading
armies and you just start singing and praise the Lord for the battle
is not yours. You just stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord. Look at that down in verse 20.
And they rose early in the morning and went forth into the wilderness
of Tekoa. And as they went forth, Jehoshaphat
stood and said, hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem,
believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established.
Believe his prophets, so shall you prosper. And when he had
consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord,
and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out
before the army, and to say, praise the Lord for his mercy
endureth forever. And, notice, and when they began
to sing and to praise the Lord, To praise, the Lord set ambushments
against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were
come against Judah, and they were smitten." You know how the
Lord gave them the victory? You can read on in that chapter
and see. But these three kings started
fighting each other. These three armies that were
allies when they invaded the land of Judah, but all of a sudden,
and we know who caused this to happen. They began, they turned
on each other and began to slay each other. God delivered his
people and they came into this valley of Beretta. It's a valley
of blessing and God is with his people in this valley of blessing
because we know every, every blessing, every, Spiritual blessing
comes from Him. Every good gift, every perfect
gift comes down from Him, the Father of lights, that is God,
in whom there is no shadow of turning. In this valley, He's
still God. He's still God of the valley.
And I believe, I believe we would all be in this valley more often
if we spent more time praising like this army did, singing praise
unto God and less time complaining. If we'd spend more time praising
God, we'd spend more time in this valley of blessing. Now
there's a third valley, the Valley of Acre, A-C-H-O-R, Acre. And this valley, the first time
it's mentioned, let's look back to Joshua chapter seven. I'm
going to call this valley the Valley of Judgment. We've seen a valley called weeping,
a valley called blessing, but yes, there is a valley called
judgment, Valley of Acre. In chapter seven of Joshua and
verse 24, Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of
Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold,
and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses,
and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had, and they
brought them unto the valley of Acre, a valley of judgment. Achan, we're all familiar with
him. He was disobedient to God's command
when God gave them victory over the city of Jericho. He stole, he took that which
was forbidden, hid it in his tent. And the judgment of God
came upon him and his. And I'm happy this morning to
say that none of God's children will ever come into this valley.
None of God's children will ever come into this valley of Acre
like Achan did because of our sins. He came there because of
his sins, because of his transgression. But all of God's children, we
know that all of our sins, not most of them, but all of our
sins were judged in our surety. That he died in our place, he
took our sins in his own body, the scripture says, and bore
them on the tree. God's children will never come
into this valley of judgment. All of God's children can say
with Paul, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justify. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. But this point must be made.
God is still God, even in the valley of judgment. The scripture
reveals God is love. But before we read that, we also
read God is light. And yes, God will judge sin and
does, either in the sinner or in the sinner's substitute. Now
there's one last valley, and this one you're all familiar
with. Psalm 23 and verse 4. The valley of the shadow. Psalm
23 and verse 4. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow. This valley, we know that many
times we pass through it. We know that For all of us, one
day, if the Lord doesn't come in our lifetime, we're going
to go through this valley of the shadow of death. But I didn't
call this the valley of the shadow of death, I called it the valley
of the shadow. Because this valley of the shadow,
believers are sometimes in when the death of some loved one casts
a very dark shadow over our lives. When God takes someone close
to us, someone that we love, we mentioned earlier with one
of the members here just before the service, someone we worshiped
with, and God has taken them away, taken them to be with him. And that casts a shadow over
us, doesn't it? A valley of the shadow, a dark
shadow. The hymn writer had been in this
valley when he wrote these words. Does Jesus care when I've said
goodbye to the dearest on earth to me? And my sad heart aches
till it nearly breaks. Is it ought to him? Does he say,
oh yes, he cares. I know he cares. His heart is
touched with my grief. But even in this valley of the
shadow, our God is with us. And he is the God of all comfort.
He's the God of the mountaintop. He's God of the valleys. And
the scripture admonishes us, casting all your care upon him,
for he careth for you. I pray the Lord would bless these
words to all of us here this morning. We are in, at one time
or the other, one of these valleys and we thank God that we'll never
be in the valley of judgment because our Lord and Savior,
he was in that valley when he took our sins and he was judged
upon the cross. Hymn number 275 was