Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 (NIV)
While our mountaintop experiences can be breathtakingly beautiful as well as an inspiration and nourishment for our weary souls, our growth is not found there. It is in the valleys that our luscious fruit is produced. While it is true that most of us long to live in the heights of the mountaintop experiences, it seems we all really want (whether perhaps we realize it or not) what only the valleys can produce in our lives, Amen? As James states joy arrives from our being mature and complete, not lacking anything. Yet valleys are not what dreams are made of – right? I have never met someone longing to face trials of many kinds much less dream of them in expectation! Valleys are the hard of life, the difficult to maneuver and manage and to maintain peace.
During these trying times we can know that our comfort comes from Christ and what He allows is for our good – seeking to make us more and more like Him - complete. We have the Father’s blessings knowing that all things conspire for our good and His glory never one surpassing the other. If troubles arise in our valley’s, we carry them to Him and rest secure between His powerful shoulders. Further, if we expect blessings from His mighty Hands we are to walk in obedience to His revealed will, obeying what He commands though it may seem at first contrary to the flesh. And His commands are not burdensome. The believer is to persevere in the will of God mature and fully assured though often extraordinarily difficult. He places His power through the indwelling Holy Spirit in our ordinary jars of clay to achieve His awesome purposes for our lives and He equips us for the works He has created before the foundation of the world for us to walk in. He both saves us and empowers to shine forth His glory and bring us much good. What a wonderful God we serve!
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Philippians 3:12-16 (NIV)