The following is an excerpt from Graeme Goldsworthy’s, “According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible:“

“The writers of most of the books of the Old Testament concentrate on those people (Joseph, Moses, David, etc) and events (the flood, the parting of the Red Sea, the fall of Jericho, etc.) that are central to God’s redemption of mankind.”

“However, the focus on these ‘heroes of the faith’ and the supernatural events surrounding them can cause us to miss something very important: often, whole generations of people are born, grow old, and die without ever meeting a ‘hero of the faith’ and without witnessing a single miracle.”

“Life in ancient Israel was not ‘three miracles a day and a new holy war’ each week. Most people lived their lives while God did no new [observable-to-the-human-eye] thing. For every biblical hero there are thousands of Israelites who knew God solely through what was taught by the priests and prophets. As a result, they did their best to seek to be faithfully obedient to God in personal devotion, in home, in family life, in education, and in work.”

The excerpt (above) struck a chord with me.  While I would love to live on the proverbial “spiritual mountain top,” Jesus modeled something quite different when He left heaven (the mountain top) for earth (the valley).

As Oswald Chambers notes a number of times in his collection of devotions, “My Utmost for His Highest,

“We were created not for the mountain top experiences, but for the valleys.”

Chambers often refers to the “valleys” as the “mundane” i.e. the everyday grind of life.

Interestingly, the book of Nehemiah doesn’t record a single supernatural event. What it does record is a story about our extraordinary God working through His people in ordinary ways.

Just like He did through untold thousands of ancient Israelites. Just like He does today through us.

Soli Deo Gloria, nick