Walking With Christ

Jonah 1:3-4  (3)But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.  He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.  So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.  (4)But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.(ESV)

It’s easy to assume that every difficult season means the same thing.

Some people believe hardship always proves that we’ve done something wrong.  Others treat every hardship as evidence that we’re faithfully following God.

Neither conclusion is safe.

Jonah entered his storm because he was running from what God had told him to do.  His circumstances weren’t random, and they weren’t persecution for righteousness.  They were connected to his refusal to obey.

Some valleys are like that.

A dishonest decision creates consequences.  Unresolved anger damages a relationship.  Pride keeps us from receiving correction until the damage becomes impossible to ignore.  We shouldn’t call every painful result an attack from the enemy when our own choices helped create it.

But not every valley is punishment.

Psalm 23:4  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.(ESV)

The path of the Shepherd still passes through the valley.

Faithful people can experience loss, opposition, uncertainty, and pain without having wandered away from God.  Sometimes the valley isn’t evidence that we missed His direction.  It’s part of the road along which He’s leading us.

That distinction matters.

When disobedience brought us into the valley, the proper response is repentance.  We shouldn’t merely ask God to remove the consequences while refusing to address the choice that produced them.

When obedience brought us there, the proper response is endurance.  We shouldn’t abandon the path simply because it became difficult.

The challenge is knowing which kind of valley we’re in.

That requires honesty.  We must be willing to ask whether we ignored a warning, crossed a boundary, or chose what we wanted over what God instructed.  We must also resist inventing guilt when there is no sin to confess.

Difficulty alone doesn’t tell us why we’re there.

The same terrain can require very different responses.  One valley may call us to turn around.  Another may call us to keep walking.

Faithfulness begins with refusing to lie to ourselves about which one we’re facing.

Tomorrow, we’ll consider the decisions made in the valley—and why the path we choose there may matter more than how quickly we escape it.