Navigating The Valleys And The Mountain Tops

Navigating the valleys and Mountain tops of our life

Hinds Feet and High Places

Psalm 18:33, Habakkuk 3:19

Introduction and greeting-

Good morning, we are glad that you have joined us!

Please turn to Psalm 18 as we begin this morning-

Prayer-

I have titled the message- Navigating the valleys and the mountain top experiences in your life/ subtitle Hinds feet and high places- a lot of words to say talking about the highs and the lows in our life.

We all like the highs and nobody likes the lows. We all like to be king of the hill.

Often we do not really understand what stage of life we are in till we either plummet to the low place or realize it is a high moment and we just have a fear of soon getting knocked of f the mountain. (up and down)

We are bitter when in the valleys- we don’t think that we belong there- We are scared to death when we are on the mountain top that someone will kick us off.

Anybody relate?

Psalm 18 is the Psalm of David. These words were put to a song of praise for a God that had delivered him from the hands of his enemies.

Psalm 18:1-3

“I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my Rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock in whom I take refuge. He is my shield, and my horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.”

God is my everything! (do a little dance)

So let me ask you, is God only your refuge, your deliverer when we are in the valley?

The low spots of our lives.

Do we acknowledge him only after he has gotten us out of danger?

Psalm 18:16-17-

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.”

David was rescued and it changed his life forever-

(29) “With your help I can advance against a troop! With my God I can scale a wall”

There are some lessons that must be learned in the valley so that we can experience and understand what is done on the mountaintop.

This week in 10 am Wednesday devotional class I read from the book of Job. I started reading Job 1 ”In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was JOB…Few people chuckled…This man was blameless and upright… is no one going to stop me? I said can you image someone who never picked up a bible before and started reading for the first time …THAT WOULD BE JOB NOT JOBE.IF THEY NEVER HEARD A SERMON OR NEVER A SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON. THEY WOULD NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.

To never experience the valleys, we would not know what to do or act in the high points of our life-

Don’t believe me- Everyday we see celebrities who should by all standards have it all together with nothing to worry about- yet they struggle, they have lows, their lives are a mess because they cannot handle the highs because they never experience the lows-

The children of celebrities who have not had to learn life lessons (silver spoon) most think the world owes them because who their parents are.

They don’t know how to handle life’s obstacles and then most do it without God- it is a disaster waiting to happen.

Hind’s feet are the feet of mountain deer who know how to climb and navigate the mountains, to get to the top and are able to get around the valleys as well. I saw it first hand on vacation in Nevada with mountain sheep.

(33) He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.”

Makes that verse come alive- feet (hinds) prepare to climb the mountain and knowing God enables us to stand on the mountain. (Without him we will fall)

God uses imagery of mountains and valleys often in His Word to describe His power, the high moments of success in life, and obstacles that stand in our way. WE HAVE TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE!

Valleys are low spots (where David was before God rescued him)

knocked down and knocked off the mountain

Looking up… to the obstacle (mountain) in front of you.

One energizes our faith and one drains us-

Navigating the valleys

I don’t think anyone has to tell you what a valley is-

A low spot in your life where your wondering where God is and if you are going to get out of it.

Christians think God has abandoned them and non-believers say… see- God doesn’t care for me or he would not have let this happen to me.