“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
At what point in your life have you felt the closest to God? Examine your life and see. I am certain it was at those times in your life when there was nothing else, and no-one else to turn to. Those times where it seems all was lost and everything was dark.
It is often during the worst and darkest times in our lives that we are the closest to God, in the midst of personal anguish or calamity. It is in that terrible time that God has most often touched our lives with a promise, a personal insight, a sense of supernatural strength or courage. Most often we will remember those times of being in the valley better than the times spent on the mountaintop. God reveals Himself to us in a different way when we are in that valley.
When you are in the valley (and they will come, even though most of us, all of us don’t want them to) remember two important things:
1. This too will pass, as surely as a cold, dank, dark winter turns to a sunny, vibrant spring, you will leave behind this season and once more climb from the darkness of the valley to the heights of the mountain.
2. He will not leave you, even when things are at their darkest and it seems you have your back to the wall, the Holy Spirit, the comforter is with you, guiding you, leading you, always upward and always closer to the breast of the Father. Allow yourself to depend entirely, totally on Him. Let Him guide you from the valley to the peak.
This verse concludes with an action — comfort others with the comfort we have received from the Father. There is nothing more comforting when you are experiencing something in your life than to have another believer come alongside you and say, “I have been there, I know what you are going through. Let me stand with you, weep with you and then rejoice with you as you experience the Father in a new way.”
If you are on the mountaintop right now, look around and thank the Lord for where you are, but reach down and hold the hand of someone who is behind you and needs to hear the encouragement that they too can make it to the top.
Read more articles by Corinne Smelker or search for articles on the same topic or others.
