Today we look at Joseph’s story and maybe it is your story too. Joseph started off his life as a golden child, he was loved by his father above all his brothers and he had big dreams, dreams to rival even the internet. He was by every definition, on the “mountain” of life. Things however began to go downhill from there. First, his own brothers sold him into slavery (the greatest betrayal if there ever was one). However, while Joseph was probably walking through the biggest valley of his life, he still managed to have a mountain moment inside that valley. This is because while he was a slave, his master Potiphar, was so impressed by Joseph that he made him lord over his house. How cool was that? Joseph still did not have his freedom and so he was in a valley but being controller of Potiphar’s household would have come with some perks which would have ultimately reduced some harsh realities of being a slave.
As Joseph was trying to figure out his “new reality”, another valley moment struck. This was in the form of Potiphar’s wife who falsely accused him of rape because he had refused to have extra-marital relations with her. Next thing you know, Joseph is in prison in a foreign land with no family members or close allies to support him. Yet in this valley, Joseph was able to experience yet another mountain moment. Once again, the warden of the prison was so impressed by Joseph that he made him overseer of the prison, to watch over the other prisoners. Have you ever a heard a tale so mind-boggling? A prisoner in charge of other prisoners? But so great was God’s favour upon Joseph that even in his deepest valleys, he was still able to stand on mountaintops.
At the end of Joseph’s story, he is fully out of his valleys and he no longer just experiences “mountain moments”, his feet was now fully planted on the mountain. Life is pretty much a sequence of hills and valleys, ups and downs, highs and lows. We see this everywhere from movies to bible stories and while our lives may look a little different (no overly dramatic movie scenes), yet we can all testify of this pattern.
Today though, I wanted us to focus on the fact that while we could be walking through valleys, it is possible for us to experience mountain moments. Sometimes the lows of life could last for a really long season to the point that we start to wonder when we would ever come out of it. I’m writing today to say look out for mountain moments in your valley. Sometimes it may feel like there is no mountain moment to experience, that’s okay because no matter how cliché it sounds, tough times actually do not last, no matter how long it may be.
I hope you’re encouraged today to look out for mountain moments even as you hold on to hope of coming out of your valley. You can try listening to the song Hills and Valleys (The Valleys Version) by Tauren Wells which I posted as part of my playlist a couple of weeks ago, I hope the song speaks to your soul. Until next time, remember you’re deeply loved by God and His favour is always readily available for you and you are secured in it because “in his favour is life” (Psalm 30:5b, KJV).
Nice