Close your eyes for a minute and picture yourself walking through a beautiful garden full of spectacularly colored flowers, along a deserted beach as the waves lap at your feet, or through the rainforest in Brazil with its magnificent array of color. Maybe you’ve vacationed in the Caribbean and been captivated by the crystal clear blue water and stunning white beaches. Or it could be you have visited New York City during the Christmas Season, with all its spectacular lights and pageantry. Regardless of the location, we humans enjoy beautiful scenery or landscapes. Psychologists state that we experience a positive mental effect or sensation when we see beautiful scenery and landscapes. We often describe those moments as breathtaking or “it took my breath away.”

There is also something about mountains, with their lush foothills, snow-capped peaks, and spectacular views that is breathtaking. In between mountains are valleys; that low area formed by erosion of the land by a river or stream. Valleys are often picturesque, but we sometimes miss their beauty due to the grandeur of the mountains that surround them.

Life’s journey is often described using mountain and valley language. When something has given us joy or excitement we say “I’ve had a mountaintop experience” and when the opposite occurs, we find ourselves “in the valley.” We want to walk on the mountaintops, but want nothing to do with the valleys.

It is in those moments when we find ourselves in the valley that God does His best work. We tend to cry out to God when we are looking up at the big looming mountains more so than when we stand on the top of the hill looking down at what is below. I have been there, and, be honest, so have you. Maybe you are there right now.

We learn more in our valley experiences than on our mountaintops. We learn more about ourselves and we learn more about God. And even though you might not always be able to see God in the valley, He is there. When the resurrected Jesus spoke to His disciples in what is known as the Great Commission, His final words to them, and to you today, were – “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b).

These words from Psalm 23:4 are often used at funerals, but they convey so much more than God’s presence and comfort when someone dies – “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” David is speaking of some sort of fearful experience. The valley language infers that David feels boxed in, surrounded, restricted in some way. The shadow of death is not death itself, but rather, this shadow is casting some fearful outline across David’s path. But notice what David says, because of the shepherd’s presence and under the shepherd’s leading, he will walk through this valley. He is not destined to permanently remain in this valley.       

So, today, in the midst of the whether the scenery you are looking at is stunning and spectacular, or all you see are the sides of mountains that seem to rise to insurmountable heights, hear these words found in Deuteronomy 31:8, “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

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