On the mountaintop, when life is sunshine and rainbows, it’s very easy to praise God and say “Wow, thank you for” fill in the blank. But when we get into the valleys, we have a tendency to fall into just requesting things from God. “God, make the virus go away” or “God, would you let me get to be with my friends again”. Sometimes we even fall into a phase of anger with God. “God, why would you let such evil enter into this world?” 

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I am in no way saying that we shouldn’t ever ask God for things or have emotions other than praise regarding Him, but when we are in the valleys, when we are stuck at home because of a virus or getting minimal sleep because of homework, we need to remember to praise Him on top of everything else. 

 

Habakkuk 3:17-18 says this:

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

 

To put this into modern-day translation, the special thing you were looking forward to didn’t happen and the supplies that you were going to use to make something yummy were used for something else, your job is no more and there are no snacks in the pantry, and you have nothing to do. Do parts of this sound familiar? Yet Habakkuk says that he will rejoice in the Lord. Habakkuk isn’t saying that life is sunshine and rainbows, he acknowledges that life is hard at the moment and that he is living out a valley moment, but he still worships God. 

 

One of the illustrations that I love about valleys is the idea that without a valley, a mountain wouldn’t exist. Think about it. If the mountain didn’t go down into valleys on the sides, it wouldn’t be a mountain, it would just be a flat line. And how great are those mountain moments? 

 

Think about this: when this virus has been karate chopped to the curb, restaurants will have waits for over an hour and people will be so happy when they get a table; theaters will be sold out and the voices will be so crisp; sporting events will be sold out and the fans will cheer so loud; friends will have a new appreciation for each other; students might even, dare I say, want to go to school. How beautiful will that day be! 

 

In the meantime, while we wait for this marvelous day, we can still rejoice in the Lord, just like Habakkuk. Sure, we may be in a valley right now, but some of us are getting to spend more time with our family; some are getting time to read books or watch movies that we’ve always wanted to read or see, but haven’t had the time to; some of us are perfecting our cooking skills (I’m going to make such good toast by the end of this!). So what are you grateful for? It doesn’t have to be something grand and marvelous because we know that God blesses us in all ways, big and small. Thank God for what you are grateful for. Rejoice that we can still be close with Him despite social distancing.