GIVE ME THIS VALLEY

5. HIS PAWS

Job 39:21: “He paweth in the valley.”

When a horse paws, he is usually agitated because of being confined. He can’t wait to get going. The warhorse does not like to be hemmed in or stand around doing nothing. He was bred for war and all of war’s challenges.

Valleys are typical in Scripture of places of depression, stress, anxiety, and imprisonment. Valleys are places where you can’t see the sunrise or the sunset. Valleys are the places of limited horizons and long shadows. However, no matter how negative valleys can be, warhorses paw their hoofs in the valleys.

Isaiah 61:1-4 prophecies the anointing of the Spirit that was to come upon Jesus Christ in order to deliver the people who were down in the valleys, in the prisons, the broken-hearted, and the mourning. Jesus Christ was the greatest of all warhorses who was, and still is, more than eager to set the captives free.

Psalm 84:6 speaks of those who go into the Valley of Baca (weeping). As they pass through it they make it a well of the water of life and cause the rain of the Spirit to create pools of water for the thirsty.

Psalm 23:4 says: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will far no evil: for thou at with me.”

2 Chronicles 35:22 mentions the valley of Megiddo where many ancient battles were fought and where some believe that the Battle of Armageddon against Gog will be fought (Ezekiel 39:1-4).

The warhorse, Caleb pawed his hoofs as he looked up from the valley at Mount Hebron where the giants called Anakims lived. The cities were great and fenced with high walls. But Caleb the warhorse cried out “Give me this mountain” (Joshua 14:12). Joshua 14:10 reminds us that Caleb had been pawing his hoofs for the last 45 years, waiting to go and take that mountain. All mountains have valleys on their sides. When Caleb declared, “Give me this mountain” he also accepted the valleys that go with it.

We can go one better than Caleb who said, “Give me this mountain,” We can say, “Give me this valley also.”

The warhorse, Joshua pawed his hoofs in the Valley of Ajalon where he commanded the sun and the moon to stand still so the children of Israel could have a complete victory over the Amorites (Joshua 10:12-14).

Men, no matter what valleys we are in now or maybe in the future, the same eager spirit of the warhorse that gets into the fight to bring victory in the valleys can also come upon us. We can be possessed with the same Holy Spirit that caused Caleb to paw the ground with eagerness to take the dangerous and challenging mountain.

There may be all sorts of valleys ahead of us--perhaps economic valleys, Islamic terrorism valleys, or political valleys, etc. God is able to make us willing to conquer the valleys.

God calls His church to paw in the valleys. We paw in the spirit when we pray and intercede. Are you one who paws in prayer? Do you paw to get to the prayer meeting? You can’t wait to get there to fight the battles in prayer. This is the description of a true spiritual warhorse.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell