How to Develop the Fruit of the Spirit in the Valleys of Life
“The meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy” Psalm 65: 13.
The Fruitful Valleys and the Barren Heights
It’s in the figurative valley that we bear fruit. The heights are barren, both in the natural world and the spiritual (Isaiah 41: 18). Fruit is borne in the hard places, on the narrow path of obedience. In that place of death to sin, needs and self. To read the chapter for context, click here.
In fact, in Psalm 23, David calls it “the valley of the shadow of death“(vs. 4). It is the place where we are pursued by death. . . to sin, needs and self. But it’s also the place of fruitfulness and abundance. In fact, our verse tells us “the valleys deck themselves with grain”.
The rest of verse 4 from Psalm 23 explains why this is so. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me”.
How to Develop the Fruit of the Spirit When it’s Hard
Fruitfulness essentially means to walk in love and love is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 22, 23). In other words, if God is with us by His Spirit, we will be filled with love, because love is the fruit of the Spirit. (The other “fruits” listed in are actually characteristics of the one fruit of love).
Here’s the progression: Death> Presence of God> Love (which is the same as fruitfulness).
To read another post related to How to Develop the Fruit of the Spirit in the Valleys of Life, see What Does Mercy Look Like? God’s Faithfulness to His People.