Down in the Valley

Mark 9:14-37

We live for the mountain-top experiences with Jesus Christ. There is nothing greater or more rewarding in this life than to know you have been in the overwhelming presence of the glory of God in power.

Hopefully, in your personal walk with Christ you have known such a time, or many such times. God desires us to experience His presence, even as He ministers to us according to His Word.

For Peter, James, and John, this has obviously been the paramount experience of their lives up to now. Jesus has literally been transfigured in their presence, and they have seen Moses and Elijah with their own eyes – two of the most transcendental figures of the Jewish faith.

In leaving that mountain-top experience behind them, (however long or brief it may have been,) they probably expected to either live on that experience or at least bask in its afterglow for quite some time.

But then they were immediately confronted with what Satan had been doing down in the valley while they were on the top of the mountain.

The disciples who had been left behind while Peter, James and John had been summoned to the peak were engaged in intense Spiritual warfare, and they were in the midst of an embarrassing public defeat. It must have been very disappointing for them to find themselves mired in a mess immediately upon leaving the blessed.

But this is the way ministry often is. A life in Christ is life WITH Christ, and life with Christ is a life of fairly constant conflict because the enemy constantly attacks the unprotected flanks of Jesus’ ministry – (the flanks guarded by people) – and this is where he attempts to bring shame upon Jesus. It often happens in public, and it is designed to have people look at YOU as a means of inviting them to doubt Jesus’ power.

While we may sense despair, and even defeat in these moments of parrying with Satan in our own strength, we must remember Jesus never invited us to follow people, or to look to people for solutions. He invited us to follow Him. Keep the faith!

-Pastor Bill