The Valleys
I recently had the pleasure of hearing a new theory on “The Bible Recap” with Tara Lee Cobble as we are finishing out the book of Joshua and all the land allotments. This is an amazing resource to read through the Bible a few chapters at a time but followed by her recap of what was read, answers some questions that may arise, invites discussions, provides insights (although she will result admit not not being a scholar and that she is not the ultimate authority) and most importantly provides what she terms her “God Shot” she saw in this text. As these last few chapters have been about land allotments and was quite dry. She listed in the show notes photos of how the valleys of Israel when looking at it via a topographical map actually look like the Hebrew letter “Shin”; which is used as the first letter for God’s title of Shaddai (which can be translated as “God Almighty, Lord of the Mountains, All-Sufficient One to name a few and is also found in Genesis 17:1 when God was speaking with Abraham and Psalm 91:1).
On day 86 she expounds: The Hebrew people see this letter as sacred, as God’s initial and stamp it on their Mezuzahs which they put on the doorposts of their home that contain scripture in them according to the demand in Deuteronomy 6. In Deuteronomy 12 specifically verses 5, 11 and 21 that that his chosen place of worship when they enter the Holy Land where the tabernacle will be located is a place where he will put his name. Eventually that becomes Jerusalem. In second Chronicles 6:6 we read the following on this thing yet again:
But now I have chosen Jerusalem for my Name to be there, and I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.’
Now she goes on to mention that could he be have speaking metaphorically only? Absolutely. But she also introduces this idea of how if you look at the valleys it looks like God stamped his initials, his monogram on Jerusalem. she also brings up the idea that some people have gone so far as to see this shin image in the way the human heart is set up. Now take all of this with a grain of salt as neither she nor anyone on this planet can give you a definite. Yes, this was God‘s idea from the start – to say that would be suing that they knew the mind of God, which is a huge red flag and impossible.
See Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV)
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
But this leads me to an interesting idea of how God knows I’m a visual person, and to have this, even as an option is quite intriguing, but also comforting, knowing that even this theory brought up the idea of what I termed in my head, the “valleys of Shin”. This in turn, had the domino effect of making me think of all of the studying I’ve been doing on Psalm 23 when it says the valleys of the shadow of death. Some translations just call it to the valleys of shadows. This is in the King James Version (as I learned it as a child) Psalm 23:4:
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
What has been most meaningful to me is that not only is it promised that he will be with us as we go through those valleys but those valleys are not places we camp out where we get stuck in the trenches or we are left or forgotten. He walks through the valleys with us. The valleys are not permanent and there is to be movement on our parts but he also promises to walk on our left on our right beside behind and before us with rod and staff in hand.
This is the English standard translation:
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,[c]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
Finally I believe there are a lot of things that we will not have the answers for this set of eternity. For example with unanswered prayers about relationships or pain or any number of things the valleys can get very very very deep. But I will end with this in that he promises I am not aloneDeuteronomy 31:6, He collects my tears in a bottle Psalm 56:8 there is a reason for everything Romans 8:28 He is sovereign and perhaps more good can come of a bad situation then if everything was fine because there would be so many people and lessons I would not have had the opportunity to meet or interact with that have enriched my life.
Case in point like the wonderful ultrasound technician I met today and the receptionist who was so wonderful helping me when I realized I got there and in my brain fog and everything else had forgotten the actual script!
I will leave you with this:
In a sermon by P. G. Matthew of Grace Valley Christian Center, entitled “The Lord Will Go Before Us” he provides a number of very useful references that can be found on the sermon’s transcript here and below. To be fair, I know nothing of their center or of this Pastor but I’m citing the resources to give credit or credit is due.
So Isaiah says, “But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard” (v. 12). We can therefore say, with Paul, “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:14). Always! In life or in death, in trials, persecutions and temptations, in plenty or in want, in sickness or in health, our God always leads us in triumph. As the psalmist declares, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want” (Psalm 23:1).
In Isaiah 42:16 the Lord promises, “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” This world has many rough places-problems, pressures and trials of every sort. But do not worry. God takes care of his people.
Isaiah 49:10 is another promise to us from God: “They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.” This verse is speaking of our spiritual as well as our physical needs. Man is body and spirit, and God promises to take care of the totality of our being.
Finally, let us consider the promise of Isaiah 43: “But now, this is what the Lord says-he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.’” This is the effectual call of God. He summoned us, we came, and we were redeemed. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze” (vv. 1-2).
We do not want to go through fire and water, but it is inevitable. God ordains trials and problems in our Christian life. But because God goes before us, we will pass through them without experiencing destruction. What is the reason for this? “For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior” (v.3). As Romans 8:28 tells us, “[W]e know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
In John 10:27-30 Christ promises such perfect security to his sheep: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I am the Father are one.”
No power in all creation is able to separate us from the grip of God. He purposed to redeem us and has done so in Christ. Now the One who redeemed us will also keep us from falling. No matter where the problem is-in front of us, behind us, on our right or on our left-no one can take eternal life away from us.