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"You Can Run But You Can't Hide"

by Pastor Lorne Lueck

Mountains And Valleys

Author: Brian Rodda

Something that will never cease to intrigue me is element of opposites that exist in the Bible. Chief among them is the differing perspective that we have compared to our Heavenly Father when it comes to times of our fellowship. To sum it up in a phrase, we could say it like this: "We love the mountains while He loves the valleys."
My thoughts go to the story of the Prodigal Son, where the peak of the prodigal's prideful exuberance marked the depth of the father's despair. While the son's bolted off to a life of wild revelry, inheritance money burning a hole in his pocket, the father lied wallowing in introspective misery.
It wasn't until the prodigal found himself dining on swine food that he realized the error of his ways. If his father could have seen at that moment - via modern satellite imagery - that his son was encountering a "valley" of remorse, the heart of the father would begin its rejoicing. He would've known that times of sweet fellowship lie ahead - his own "mountain" mere footsteps away.
Before we allow feelings of self-righteousness to engulf us, let's be honest. Let's admit that we are, at times, just like that prodigal: we like it when things are going our way. We love the wind of success carelessly blowing in our hair. When it feels like the world is our oyster, anything seems possible; we stand poised with our shell-knife ready to pry it open. Meanwhile, back in the heavenly realm, our Father is longing for sweet times of fellowship that only "valley times" seem to produce.