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Is He only God of the Hills?
By James Ryle
And there came a man of God, and spoke unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus says 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" (1 Kings 20:28).
"You don't spit into the wind, you don't pull on Superman's cape, you don't take the mask off the ol' Lone Ranger, and you don't mess around with Jim!" So goes the old song by Jim Croce. It is a humorous way of saying that there are just some things you simply DO NOT DO.
At the top of that list, however long it may grow to be afterwards is this one thing -- YOU DO NOT BELITTLE GOD!
The verse we look at today comes from an account in the Old Testament where Ben-Hadad, king of the Syrians, marched with his great army against Israel for the second time. The first battle had been fought a year earlier, and Syria had suffered a humiliating defeat. Ben-Hadad's commanders attributed their loss to the power of Israel's god, which (in their pagan beliefs) was "the god of the hills."
In this second war they decided to confront Israel on the plains, where their god would have no power. What made the outcome even more certain for Syria was the fact that they outnumbered Israel in size and firepower -- such that the writer tells us Israel's army, when marshaled into the field, look like two little flocks of goats compared to the mighty Syrian hosts.
It was at that precise moment that a man of God brought this word to Ahab, king of Israel. Thus says 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."
A war was about to ignite, and it looked as though Israel would be swallowed up in an instant. But a man of God arrived and told King Ahab that the LORD would show Ben-Hadad, the king and Commander-in-Chief of the Syrian forces, that He was the God of the valleys as well as of the hills.
For seven days the opposing armies faced off, which shows us two things at the same time: 1) Israel's faith, and 2) Syria's fear. The battle was Syria's call, not Israel's. But what were the Syrians waiting for? Why not attack? After all, the army of Israel looked "like two little flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the countryside" (verse 27). So what were they waiting for?
They hesitated because they were afraid; not of Israel, but of Israel's God. They believed He was only the God of the Hills.....but they really weren't all that sure.
The Bible doesn't tell us what triggered the fight -- a twitch here, a smirk there, an insult over there. We don't know. But we do know that once the war began it was bloody and swift. The Spirit of the Lord came upon the army of Israel, and the soldiers were unleashed upon the Syrians like Yoda in The Clone Wars!
When the fog of war cleared, 100,000 Syrian warriors lay dead in the field; an additional 27,000 who fled for their lives into the city, were crushed when a city wall fell upon them. Israel suffered no casualties.
How does this story apply to us today?
One of my favorite writers is the distinguished Scottish preacher George H. Morrison (1866-1928). His ministry drew such vast crowds that people would line up an hour prior to the services to insure finding seats in the large auditorium. His pulpit style, as well as his writing, flourish with imagination and sound biblical insights.
Here is an example.
"Sometimes we fall into the sin of limiting God to the greater hours of our life. I take it that all of us are so tempted. When the Syrians were fighting Israel they found they were always beaten on the hills, from which they gathered that the God of Israel was a God of the hills and not of the valleys. And this exclusion of the will of God from the peaceful and lowly valley-land of life is not confined to Syrian mentality. Every life has its dramatic hours and knows the exhilaration of the heights. In such hours, "so nigh to God is man," we often are strangely conscious of His presence.
"But to limit the Holy One of Israel to our rarer moments on the hills is to miss the wonder of His fellowship. He is as near us in the dreary day as in the day when all the birds are singing. He is as close to us in lowly duty as in the hours that are going to alter everything. He is present in the lilies of the field, according to the teaching of our Lord, as magnificently as in the earthquake or the storm. Do not confine God to the big things as if these alone lay upon His heart. Never reserve Him for the greater moments as if He had no feeling for the lesser ones. To do so is to fall into the sin which was recorded against the ancient Jews -- "They limited the Holy One of Israel" (Psalm 78:41). (To read more of Morrison's writings, you can download his Devotional Sermons for free at e-Sword - the Sword of the LORD with an electronic edge )
God takes pleasure when we trust in His power to save; when we boast in the Lord, rather than in our own strength. It honors Him when we hold to an unflinching faith in the face of insurmountable obstacles, and debilitating limitations. Even though we may appear to be but a "little flock of goats" beset all around with innumerable opponents armed to the teeth -- the Lord can handle it.
And handle it He will! For He is not merely the God of the Hills, but not of the valleys -- He is the Lord of All!
By James Ryle
And there came a man of God, and spoke unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus says 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" (1 Kings 20:28).
"You don't spit into the wind, you don't pull on Superman's cape, you don't take the mask off the ol' Lone Ranger, and you don't mess around with Jim!" So goes the old song by Jim Croce. It is a humorous way of saying that there are just some things you simply DO NOT DO.
At the top of that list, however long it may grow to be afterwards is this one thing -- YOU DO NOT BELITTLE GOD!
The verse we look at today comes from an account in the Old Testament where Ben-Hadad, king of the Syrians, marched with his great army against Israel for the second time. The first battle had been fought a year earlier, and Syria had suffered a humiliating defeat. Ben-Hadad's commanders attributed their loss to the power of Israel's god, which (in their pagan beliefs) was "the god of the hills."
In this second war they decided to confront Israel on the plains, where their god would have no power. What made the outcome even more certain for Syria was the fact that they outnumbered Israel in size and firepower -- such that the writer tells us Israel's army, when marshaled into the field, look like two little flocks of goats compared to the mighty Syrian hosts.
It was at that precise moment that a man of God brought this word to Ahab, king of Israel. Thus says 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."
A war was about to ignite, and it looked as though Israel would be swallowed up in an instant. But a man of God arrived and told King Ahab that the LORD would show Ben-Hadad, the king and Commander-in-Chief of the Syrian forces, that He was the God of the valleys as well as of the hills.
For seven days the opposing armies faced off, which shows us two things at the same time: 1) Israel's faith, and 2) Syria's fear. The battle was Syria's call, not Israel's. But what were the Syrians waiting for? Why not attack? After all, the army of Israel looked "like two little flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the countryside" (verse 27). So what were they waiting for?
They hesitated because they were afraid; not of Israel, but of Israel's God. They believed He was only the God of the Hills.....but they really weren't all that sure.
The Bible doesn't tell us what triggered the fight -- a twitch here, a smirk there, an insult over there. We don't know. But we do know that once the war began it was bloody and swift. The Spirit of the Lord came upon the army of Israel, and the soldiers were unleashed upon the Syrians like Yoda in The Clone Wars!
When the fog of war cleared, 100,000 Syrian warriors lay dead in the field; an additional 27,000 who fled for their lives into the city, were crushed when a city wall fell upon them. Israel suffered no casualties.
How does this story apply to us today?
One of my favorite writers is the distinguished Scottish preacher George H. Morrison (1866-1928). His ministry drew such vast crowds that people would line up an hour prior to the services to insure finding seats in the large auditorium. His pulpit style, as well as his writing, flourish with imagination and sound biblical insights.
Here is an example.
"Sometimes we fall into the sin of limiting God to the greater hours of our life. I take it that all of us are so tempted. When the Syrians were fighting Israel they found they were always beaten on the hills, from which they gathered that the God of Israel was a God of the hills and not of the valleys. And this exclusion of the will of God from the peaceful and lowly valley-land of life is not confined to Syrian mentality. Every life has its dramatic hours and knows the exhilaration of the heights. In such hours, "so nigh to God is man," we often are strangely conscious of His presence.
"But to limit the Holy One of Israel to our rarer moments on the hills is to miss the wonder of His fellowship. He is as near us in the dreary day as in the day when all the birds are singing. He is as close to us in lowly duty as in the hours that are going to alter everything. He is present in the lilies of the field, according to the teaching of our Lord, as magnificently as in the earthquake or the storm. Do not confine God to the big things as if these alone lay upon His heart. Never reserve Him for the greater moments as if He had no feeling for the lesser ones. To do so is to fall into the sin which was recorded against the ancient Jews -- "They limited the Holy One of Israel" (Psalm 78:41). (To read more of Morrison's writings, you can download his Devotional Sermons for free at e-Sword - the Sword of the LORD with an electronic edge )
God takes pleasure when we trust in His power to save; when we boast in the Lord, rather than in our own strength. It honors Him when we hold to an unflinching faith in the face of insurmountable obstacles, and debilitating limitations. Even though we may appear to be but a "little flock of goats" beset all around with innumerable opponents armed to the teeth -- the Lord can handle it.
And handle it He will! For He is not merely the God of the Hills, but not of the valleys -- He is the Lord of All!
