Every valley shall be raised up.
Isaiah 40:4 NIVUK
I like valleys.
My favourite valley is Prahova Valley in Romania. It's been a firm favourite of mine since 1994, when I passed through it for the first time. The Romanian lowlands get very, very hot in the summer. And very dry. And dusty. But when the train leaves Ploiesti and begins its ascent into the Transylvanian Alps, and then winds its way alongside the Prahova River, with steep mountains on either side, and you feel that wonderful, cooling breeze on your face, it's just so refreshing. That's a feeling I will never forget.
The valley described here, however, is quite different.
It's dangerous.
It's a narrow gorge between two high mountains. It's a place where sunlight often can't fall. It's a place of shade and shadow. It's a haven for robbers and ne'redowells - like the infamous Jerusalem to Jericho road.
It's a valley similar to the one described in Psalm 23:
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Psalms 23:4 NIVUK
A valley in the middle of a desert would not be a nice place to be. Who would answer your call if you were attacked?
No, this valley isn't the kind of place you would want to spend a lot of time in.
So why would Isaiah mention it as part of his prophecy about the coming of John the Baptist?
Matthew tells us this:
People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the River Jordan.
Matthew 3:5-6 NIVUK
Why did they come?
Because they were sinners. And they knew it. They needed to repent. And they knew it.
‘Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
Matthew 21:31-32 NIVUK
(All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptised by John. But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptised by John.)
Luke 7:29-30 NIVUK
I believe the valley road is a picture of those who don't need anyone to accuse them of being a sinner because they already know it. And because they know it, they are facing a dangerous and decisive choice: one that will determine their eternal destiny and could well also determine if they continue living on earth.
You see, realising that you are a sinner is not exactly a joyous occasion. It hurts. It stings. Your pride throbs with pain. The realisation that you are morally a failure and a bankrupt, destitute and completely unable to save yourself, goes a million miles beyond bruising. It causes deep sorrow. Paul recognised this, which is why he wrote these words to the Corinthians:
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
2 Corinthians 7:10 NIVUK
Do you see this? The darkness of the valley is designed to lead us to the light of the cross. The pain and sorrow and humiliation we feel at our own moral failure and bankruptcy is supposed to lead us to the one place where we can be restored.
But many never find it. They get stuck in the valley. They either live a life poisoned with regret or even end their lives. The valley is too deep for them. The despair is too much.
Yet John came, bringing a message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, to show us the way out of the valley. He came to raise the valley up.
The valley road was never meant to be our destination. It was meant to be the place we go through to find the joy of repentance and forgiveness. As the famous psalm states:
Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
Psalms 30:4-5 NIVUK
And again:
When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Psalms 32:3-5 NIVUK
The valley road is a very painful place to be. But we were not designed to wallow in it. We were designed to take the pain and use it as a motivator to seek forgiveness from the Lord and repent of our sin.
If only the world would listen to this! If only the world would see that dissatisfaction, disillusionment and despair are not desirable states! If only we would understand that they were not designed for us to use them for artistic inspiration or to disfigure our bodies. No! They were designed to drive us to God, as Paul explains:
For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
Romans 8:20-21 NIVUK
I speak from personal experience. I lived through an era when there were several youth music movements that absolutely revelled in negativity and sadness and angst and despair: grunge, goth, even the shoe-gazing, obsessively introverted indie music scene. I'll tell you how bad it got. One of the most depressing bands of the 1990s once had a guitarist and songwriter who self-harmed, carving the words 'For real' into his arm with a knife, during an interview with the music press. Morose and depressing songs proclaiming that the singer was a creep or a weirdo were ridiculously popular. There was even a famous rock band in the States called Suicidal Tendencies.
What do you think that did for our mental health?
Is it any wonder we had so many stars who took their lives?
Of course many of us struggled with self-image, alienation, disillusionment and a sense of worthlessness. Why wouldn't we, when the song writers of our generation were penning hymns to it?
There is a way out of despair. There is a way out of believing that you are compromised, weak, pathetic, sinful and of no use. And it isn't mindless rebellion or scattergun anger against the society that seems to have rejected you. That will only bring about more alienation, more angst, more despair.
There is Someone who wants you when you feel no-one else does, Someone who loves you when you can barely love yourself, Someone who longs to save you when you think you are beyond saving.
Someone who says you are fearfully and wonderfully made even when you can hardly look at yourself in the mirror.
That Someone is Jesus Christ. And the way out of the dark and dangerous valley road is repentance for the forgiveness of sins. It is the Gospel. There is no other way.
Many of us have walked that valley road. It isn't a holiday resort. It's dark. It's dangerous. And if you can't find the way out, you could die there. It is not somewhere you want to stay for long.
Right now, John the Baptist's teaching, and Jesus' teaching is offering you a way out:
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
Isaiah 9:2 NIVUK
I urge you to take it. Now. Before it's too late.
So the valley road is a dark and dangerous place. But so is its counterpoint - THE MOUNTAIN ROAD.
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