It is a short journey from the mountain to the valley. If you know, you know. One second, we may be flying high with great joy, and the next second the balloon deflates and we crash unceremoniously to the ground. “We are all just one phone call from our knees,” says the singer. I think he is right.
Rachel, who waited so long for Joseph to be born, was blessed with a second child. She found out he was a boy right before she died. With her last breath she named him Ben-Oni, “son of my trouble.” But Israel (Jacob) would not let that name stick, changing it to Benjamin, “son of my right hand.” Israel received his twelfth son and lost his favorite wife on the same day. Mountain to valley in minutes.
Did you remember that Rachel was buried at Ephrath, which was later known as Bethlehem? Jacob marked her grave with a pillar that stood there for a long time, at least until the writing of Genesis by Moses. Years later, when another baby was born in Bethlehem, Herod unleashed his fury on all the baby boys, thinking he could eliminate Jesus as his future rival. The Gospel writer, Matthew quoted Jeremiah, “Rachel, weeping for her children” (Matthew 2:18).
Twenty-four years and one day ago, a nephew was born to my brother and his wife. Andrew gives us great joy. Sixteen years later, my mother went home on the same day. Then a day after Andrew was born, 9/11 became a day that lives in infamy with the attack on our country. Mountain to valley. So close together.
One of my favorite young men from our youth ministry was buried in Mississippi, a few weeks ago, beside his Papa, one of his great grandfathers. Two of my favorite pastor-friends have lost their wives in the last year. When I try to fathom the sorrow, I can’t get my head around it. I thank God for these lives and their continuing testimonies of faithful prayer and service. We weep for Rachel as well as her children. Every life is precious. God is in favor of life. So we do all we can to live life and give life to others. We rejoice on the mountaintops, and we weep in the valleys. But even in the darkest valleys, we are not alone, “no, never alone. He promised never to leave us, no, never alone.”
