Mountains and Valleys

In my book, Beauty in Barren Places: Seeing God's Goodness Here and Now, I tell stories of the year I spent in Panama as a 19-year-old missionary and adventurer. I hope you read the tales of tarantulas and my fearless travels!

One day in Panama, I went hiking with my fellow missionaries and students. After trekking through dense forest, we finally arrived at a mountain peak. Panama is a fascinating country, connecting North and South America. The construction of the Panama Canal began in 1881 and was completed in 1914, allowing ships to travel east to west without traveling around Cape Horn, the tip of South America. I visited the canal several times while living in Panama, watching the huge ships transferring between locks as they crossed through. 

On that hike, after trudging through the dense jungle valley, with the young men in our group valiantly on the watch for snakes, we finally arrived at our destination: a peak with a view. From the mountaintop, we could see for miles – in fact, from that mountain top we could see the Pacific Ocean as well as the Atlantic. Ships anchored to the ocean floor awaited their turn to pass through the canal, and from the top of the mountain we watched various vessels travel through the Panama Canal.

That moment has stayed in my mind for decades. It reminds me that in the valleys we trudge through dense forest, we watch out for snakes, and we can’t see anything but trees and the backside of the person walking ahead of us. In life, our valleys often feel mundane or difficult. This past year of the pandemic has felt like a valley for many of us - trudging, can't see far ahead. It's been a year of struggle for many.

Those mountaintops are the places we long for, the high points are often the reason we push through the valleys. Those mountaintops are where we receive vision and direction. On the mountaintops we stand in awe of God’s majesty. Don’t you feel closer to God when you’re standing on top of a mountain He created than when you’re feeling stuck in a dark valley?

Even though the mountaintops feel so desirable, often they’re covered in rocks. Rarely do people seek out a mountaintop to build a farm or grow a garden. The valley is where the growth happens. In the valley, when we think we’re just working and struggling, we’re actually growing and bearing fruit, we’re becoming stronger so that we can reach the mountain top.

The Psalms are filled with prayers, songs, heart cries, and word pictures. When your soul is in a valley, when you’re feeling like you can’t see far ahead, and you long for a greater view, turn to the One who is greater and higher. Psalm 61:1-2 (NKJV) says, “Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” We sang this scripture in a song in my childhood church, and I sing these words as I read them again.

Psalm 94:18-18 is another scripture we can hold onto when life feels like a steep mountain climb. “When I said, ‘My foot is slipping,’ your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.” God loves us without end, His counsel replaces our anxiety with joy.

While hiking in the mountains of Panama, God reminded me that He matures us in the valleys, and He gives us a fresh perspective from the mountaintops.

God showers His children with delightful surprises all the time. Like the Psalmist who wrote that he knew he would see the goodness of the Lord in his life here on earth, often we simply need to open our eyes and see it. By taking note of the small gifts God gives us, we will develop an awareness of the beauty of His goodness.

Psalm 33:5 says that “the earth is full of the goodness of God.” (NKJV) God’s delightful surprises happen more than I probably notice. When I began to choose to look for His divine appointments within my disappointment, God kept surprising me with good things. Friends, it's worthwhile to persevere through the valleys and seek God in barrenness.

I'd love to hear from you: What has God shown you during a high point or low point in your life? Which passage from Psalms has spoken to you the most in a barren season?