And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the Lord, Because the Syrians have said, The Lord is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
I Kings 20:28
The Syrians were here preparing to attack the Israelites and they did have some fear of the God of the Israelites. They did say that “the Lord is God of the hills”. But they did not fully understand the Lord, because they also said “but he is not God of the valleys”. They wanted to attack the Israelites in the valley because they did not think that God could deliver them there.
The same is true of the world, the flesh and the devil today. They attack us in the valleys. When we are on the mountain top having a great victory in our Christian lives and praising the Lord, it’s easy to live for Him. But in the valley, when things aren’t going quite the way we think they should, it sometimes gets easy to take our eyes off of the Lord. When we are going through a tough time in life, we are more susceptible to an attack from the Devil or from our own flesh.
The thing that we must remember is that the Lord is the God of the hills AND He is God of the valleys. When you are on the mountain top, praise Him; when you are in the valley, trust Him.
Justified Freely 
Posted by Debbie Feller on June 28, 2010 at 7:10 am
That is so beautiful, Ben. . .”when you are in the valley, trust Him”. I’m so thankful that He is God of everything and with us wherever we are. And inhabits the praises of His people. 🙂 Thanks for encouraging us with Jesus today! deb
Posted by justifiedfreely on June 29, 2010 at 5:29 am
I do know that I need to praise Him more. He has been so good and so merciful to me that I should be praising Him all the time, but I don’t. Thanks for that reminder!
Posted by Linda Kruschke on June 28, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Ben, This reminds me of a song we sing in church called “Blessed Be Your Name” (and which I just discovered is by Newsboys when I Googled the lyrics):
Blessed be Your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
And blessed be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name
Whether we are on the mountain top or in the valleys, blessed be the name of the Lord. He is the God of all places. Peace, Linda
Posted by justifiedfreely on June 29, 2010 at 5:30 am
I had not heard that before, but what a great thought. No matter where we find ourselves, blessed be the name of the Lord! Thanks for that!
Posted by blesseddad on June 29, 2010 at 10:13 am
Hi Ben,
I have been eager to get acquainted with you and your site as referred by Linda. This is a very great lesson and I fully agree, it is much easier to be strong and firm in the faith on the mountaintop when things are going great, but in the valleys and dark alleys are where our faith and knowledge of the faithfulness of God are vital. I look forward to reading you daily also as I am blogrolling you. God Bless
Jim
Posted by justifiedfreely on June 29, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Hi Jim,
It’s good to hear from you and thank you for your kind words. I’ll look forward to reading your blog also.
Ben